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British Television - Is it really bad?

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Friday Night Dinner is decent.

Quoted because I agree with this comment.

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I've always found Russell Howard very irritating.he has become so 2-dimensional. It's the generic, leftie liberal persona, coupled with insertions of incest and betsiality, all delivered in a series of overly animated shouting. "NOOOOOO!!! DAVID CAMERON DOING THAT IS LIKE YOUR NAN... BEING RIMMED... BY A BADGER!!!"

 

Sherlock is good, but as you (and others) have said, it's over too quickly.

 

Merlin, it's pretty shit, but you can't help but like it.

 

Oh thank god i was beginning to think i was the only one who thought that about Russell Howard! all his jokes are a situation happening followed by can you imagine X animal doing that :nono: what is he 4 that's primary school humor! i feel like bashing my head against the wall when people say he is a good comedian!

 

 

TV in general has gone down hill though and i blame big brother and the advent of reality tv! since that became popular everything has to be a reality something its brought the likes of Jersey shore to TV which not only is utter drivel, but people are copying it and want to be like the idiots on it, hopefully the amounts of alcohol plus natural selection will see these idiots short lived

Its all not helped by the fact that being in a recession TV executives aren't willing to renew good shows unless they are a smash in season 1! far too many good shows are cancelled and replaced with reality tv, look at syfy good programs canned in favour of reality shows

 

its depressing, thank god for the few good shows there still are like breaking bad, dexter, fringe ETC ETC

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Well, I don't think TV is too bad. To me, there are categories:

 

Category: Comedy

In the 1990s, we had Alan Partridge, Bottom, Shooting Stars and The Fast Show. In the early Noughties we had The Office and Phoenix Nights. Nowadays there are a few things you might get a chuckle out of, but nothing truly great.

Verdict: Utterly awful.

 

Category: "Reality" Shows

The Only Way Is Essex, Geordie Shore etc. Brought in by Big Brother, although that hasn't been the same for many, many years.

Verdict: Mainly harmless rubbish, although I'm not happy about the cruelty involved in I'm A Celebrity and (nowadays) Big Brother. Other than that, there's an audience for these and they're generally on minor channels, so live and let live.

 

Category: Talent Shows

Strictly Come Dancing, The X-Factor, Dancing on Ice etc.

Verdict: They're important, even if you don't like them. They are at least wholesome and provide some much-needed live entertainment.

 

Category: Fantasy Drama

Doctor Who, Merlin, Primeval, Robin Hood etc.

Verdict: Decent. Peaked around 2007-2009, really, but they are much better than the stuff they've tried in previous decades.

 

Category: Documentary

Whilst there were some good documentaries in the 1990s, the superb BBC4 means there's usually always something interesting to watch. More4 is not bad either, and The Sky At Night is still on. :)

Verdict: In very good form.

 

Category: Local TV

I don't know how many people remember this, but local television used to be excellent. Most nights on ITV after 10.30 or 11pm, there would be something interesting on for an hour or so. Nowadays you get something like Lethal Weapon. No disrespect, but who wants to see that again? It's not what I'd call progress. Destroying local TV stations is one of the worst things that's happened to television.

Verdict: Terrible! Bring it back!

 

So, overall I don't think television is too bad at all, if only because of Digital TV. In the old days, before the internet, I watched some pretty boring stuff because there were only four/five channels! Now there is so much choice I have a much better viewing experience.

 

However, I would like less films. If I want to see a film, there are better ways to watch them now. It's a waste of two hours' broadcasting. I would also like to see more "high quality" programmes like I mentioned earlier - Alan Partridge, Phoenix Nights etc. And finally, The Olympics were so brilliant, from the Opening Ceremony to the Closing Ceremony and everything inbetween, so let's have live shows from that stadium every weekend! Seriously, we should have much, much more live broadcasting - sports, shows, concerts - because there's nothing like it and that's what television does best.

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In terms of lesser known, contemporary comedy, I recommend Lead Balloon and How Not To Live Your Life. Twenty Twelve was great, too.

 

Is there any recent sci-fi that isn't terrible? At the moment I'm sustaining myself on re-runs of Voyager.

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I barely ever watch TV (programmes) at all anymore, but Grandma's House (which finished it's second series a few months back) by Simon Amstell is brilliant comedy/sitcom, without being shit.

 

I watched an episode of this and didn't warm to it. So naturally I didn't give it any more chances :heh:

 

I can't say I watch any British serials. None have ever really grabbed my attention.

 

Do sometimes watch one-offs or short series things. Caught Thirteen Steps Down the other day and enjoyed that.

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Aren't period dramas getting popularised recently, e.g. The Hollow Crown? I don't watch any TV really, but I'm catching whiffs of it from Facebook and Twitter.

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I can tell you now that I am seriously missing the BBC.

 

There are literally NO AUS-made shows of any worth. We all know about Neighbours and Home and Away, but nobody watches them here. Most of the TV is dominated by reality TV. The news is shit - all biased, all conservative, all selfish, all fear-mongering. There are LOADS of adverts ALL THE TIME. Everything is a repeat. Product placements everywhere. Infomercials in the middle of regular shows. EVERYTHING IS ABOUT MARKETING.

 

It is shit.

 

The only good thing is sport... but they're not interested in the sports I'm interested in - and they play adverts during soccer games so you're likely to miss goals. Everyone is gambling-crazy. Australia is self-centered. Julien Assange is an AUS citizen but they're not showing any coverage of what's going on over there.

 

UK has constant comedy attempts from BBC and Channel 4, and plenty of serious journalism in Horizon and Panorama compared to the shock-tactic 60 Minutes and A Current Affair -- these shows are melodramatic and simply aim to have viewers in order to up their ratings so they can get more money from sponsors.

 

UK's approach to sponsors is way better - you'll have presenters here hold up an item and say a pre-scripted slogan "so nice you'll buy it twice!" sort of thing.

 

Bondi Rescue about lifeguards is one of the staple reality shows. No real worth. You can check out wiki's list of aus shows and see.

 

Even if you just think that there are two or three good UK shows - Top Gear, Sherlock, Doctor Who, or whatever you wish for - that's two or three more than AUS has to speak for.

 

US TV = you pay for it, you can get good stuff. However there's much more shit to sift through. UK = Good stuff for the price of a TV license, just not in as large a quantity. AUS = No good stuff. Unless you pay for the UK/US good stuff.

 

UK TV is one of the things to be proud of, even if you think it's rubbish. The rest of the world has it worse.

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There are literally NO AUS-made shows of any worth.

MasterChef Australia!

 

The best version of MasterChef.

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I did remember a good one after I typed that, too - Hamish and Andy. Radio presenters who do occasional travel-blog shows - Caravan of Courage is where they have to one-up each other as they drive a winnebago around their chosen country. They've done Australia, USA, UK, and Europe. The shows have the regular amount of adverts (i.e. loads) but they pack the content in pretty decently.

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Internet > tv. Can watch the newest episodes of whatever show I want and whenever I want, with NO ads! Mainly watching Raw, Smackdown, Impact Wrestling, NXT, Survivor and Naruto now.

Edited by Ville

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I basically don't watch TV anymore now. Outside of select US stuff like Breaking Bad and Fringe and the rare documentary that catches my attention on the likes of BBC4, C4 and More 4 (hey I sense a pattern forming here!)

 

Hopefully Red Dwarf X and the new Alan Partridge series turn out to be the shining beacon of hope that this country needs! (We're Bouncing Back baby!)

Edited by Dcubed

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Internet > tv. Can watch the newest episodes of whatever show I want and whenever I want, with NO ads! Mainly watching Raw, Smackdown, Impact Wrestling, NXT, Survivor and Naruto now.

 

That's still TV kid, just the medium in which you watch it is different.

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That's still TV kid, just the medium in which you watch it is different.

 

Yes, but the point is that as a medium, tv is antiquated as hell. It doesn't really offer me anything I want to watch without having to purchase all these different kinds of subscriptions, and even then it sucks ass! Lot of the programmes, like Survivor, run several seasons behind the US ones, which is stupid. If you want to watch them immediately when they come out, and same goes for WWE programming and IW as well, you have to go to different video sites and dig up the not-so-legal recordings there. The distribution is just awful: the whole of US can watch these shows on the net for free (!) as they come up, but not international viewers. I can understand that they want to protect their stuff and get as much money from it, yes of course, but they're relying too much on the incredibly inflexible medium of tv, which is totally hit and miss depending on where you live! : o I mean for example the WWE has a huge international fanbase, so the fact that they're not offering any kind of web service apart from their archive is just stupendous. Your fans want to watch the shows, and yet you don't let them? Wtff...

 

Now the only programme here which does it right is Naruto. You can watch it legally through sites like Crunchyroll, which give you the subtitled, up-to-date episodes straight from Japan for free. Now the catch is that it's always one week late, so if you want to get the latest episodes immediately as they come out, you can subscribe. This way, you're actually supporting the site and the makers of these programmes! Now this is more like it, actually catering to the whole international audience of these shows! I don't think we'll be seeing Naruto on Finnish tv for a long time, despite all the Japan mania going on around here. Well, its the tv companies loss really, the young people either watch these shows illegally or via such subsciption services. Either way, their monies are going the other way...

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I've never liked Doctor Who. For one it annoys me when people class it as sci-fi, it really isn't. And two, every plot seems to be solved with deus ex machina.

 

... wait, what?

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I tried to watch Bad Education and couldn't, that was awful. I liked the choice lines from the gay character but he was truly a horrible representation in the first place. Actually shitter and shitter in retrospect. Felt like a school production.

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... wait, what?

 

Science fiction is about taking what we currently know, and expanding it to represent one of the many possibilities, often set in the future, whilst still remaining reasonably plausible. It is not just a TV show where you stick in bits of space, aliens, flashing lights and time travelling shit.

 

Doctor Who doesn't deal present an imaginative view of possibilities, whilst still operating within the realms of possibilities. It just takes some childish concept, and tries to justify it by sticking a bit of "space stuff" in there.

 

 

Terry Pratchett puts it better than I can:

 

The unexpected, unadvertised solution which kisses it all better is known as a deus ex machina - literally, a god from the machine. And a god from the machine is what the Doctor now is. A decent detective story provides you with enough tantalising information to allow you to make a stab at a solution before the famous detective struts his stuff in the library. Doctor Who replaces this with speed, fast talking, and what appears to be that wonderful element "makeitupasyougalongeum". I don't know about you, but I don't think I would dare try to jump-start a spaceship that looks like the Titanic by diving it into the atmosphere... but I have to forgive the Doctor that, because it was hilariously funny.

 

People say Doctor Who is science fiction. At least people who don't know what science fiction is, say that Doctor Who is science fiction. Star Trek approaches science fiction. The horribly titled Star Cops which ran all too briefly on the BBC in the 1980s was the genuine pure quill of science fiction, unbelievable in some aspects but nevertheless pretty much about the possible. Indeed, several of its episodes relied on the laws of physics for their effect (I'm particularly thinking of the episode "Conversations With The Dead"). It had a following, but never caught on in a big way. It was clever, and well thought out. Doctor Who on the other hand had an episode wherein people's surplus body fat turns into little waddling creatures. I'm not sure how old you have to be to come up with an idea like that. The Doctor himself has in recent years been built up into an amalgam of Mother Teresa, Jesus Christ (I laughed my socks off during the Titanic episode when two golden angels lifted the Doctor heavenwards) and Tinkerbell. There is nothing he doesn't know, and nothing he can't do. He is now becoming God, given that the position is vacant. Earth is protected, we are told, and not by Torchwood, who are human and therefore not very competent. Perhaps they should start transmitting the programme on Sundays.

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It seems on the few episodes of Doctor Who I've watched normally follow the concept of the Doctor being confused 50% throughout, 40% knowing/suspecting the problem but not saying anything about it, the final 10% left for a quick solution and explanation.

 

If it doesn't involve "celebrities" and some form of phone number to ring, networks aren't willing to take many risks these days. I was thinking last week if they'd ever bring Stars in Their Eyes back, and how the final of the series was a phone in one, as if it was something special (and back then, it was) now you can't move for some form of phone in competition/interation with a show.

 

This is why they make big deals out of when a one off drama comes along, Bean being a tranny (I will watch it sometime) was splashed all over the TV Guides, as was Brannagh as Wallander weeks before. It's as if TV stations have lost putting any effort into a proper long running series. Even though some are still around the quantity/quality has dimished. Sherlock was good, but not great, and calling 3 episodes a season is fucking stupid.

 

The "usual" TV for me now mainly consists of American shows, such as the various CSI's (not NY), Law & Order, Rules of Engagement, How I Met Your Mother (Although now knowing Barney and Robin will be the new Chandler and Monica has dulled the experience) and Neighbours. At the moment I am working my way through the series' of Hustle, since I bought the latest season, I feel compelled on rewatching the rest.

 

Also got into Hell's Kitchen USA. They really should bring that back, but without celebrities. It's actually making me want to try new foods.

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Hmm, have watched only one episode of Dr. Who. I did like it, but apparently not enough to continue watching...Maybe it has something to do with the scifi debate above, I mean the episode themes seem to be pretty original and fantasy-like, but not that realistic per se...Anyway, the main theme is damn epic, though.

 

It seems most of the shows I watch are American. Apart from the ones mentioned before, I occasionally watch the late night shows as well, mainly Conan and Craig Ferguson. Awesome guys, both of them...What comes to British shows, the last ones I've watched have been QI and Mock the Week, and not that recently...

 

Web shows? AVGN, Nostalgia Critic, The Guild etc...although, I'm not watching these very regularly. Random youtube stuff...I think some kind of a saturation point has been reached. Apart from wrestling, Survivor and Naruto, and I'm not that interested in following tv / web shows regularly anymore...Same with modern movies, I just can't be arsed.

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We clearly have very different takes on Doctor Who, what it tries to do, and why it does it.

 

Star Wars isn't science-fiction, either.

 

Although I personally classify them as sci-fi, because there's not really much point in splitting it into different (and debatable) categories. Some of the stuff in Star Trek would probably remove it from "science fiction". Battlestar Galactica's ftl drive (and some plotlines) probably removes it from what Terry Pratchett would call science fiction. You could probably slowly eliminate most popular "science fiction" from being "science" fiction using rules like that.

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My urge to watch television has risen. Match of the Day has returned.

 

Hurraaaaay!

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Some people are clearly forgetting the fiction in science fiction =\

 

I think some people are forgetting the science in science fiction.

 

The fiction is the fact that these stories didn't happen. Without science, science fiction would just be fiction. I'll happily agree that Doctor Who is fiction (unless there were some really interesting history classes that I missed), science fiction on the other hand.

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