The TV thread

For a kid of a certain age, learning about death and being sad and watching that movie with your dad- really kind of a pivotal coming of age moment. All those movies get me - Something for Joey, Big Mo, Bang the Drum Slowly - let's be real, many men are kind of emotionally backward, the stoic emotionless Man with No Name or Josey Wales from Eastwood films were how we thought "real men" were supposed to deal with loss.

 

The burning question for this or any millennia is, how in the blue fuck did Harvey Fierstein get a part in Independence Day?

 

Imagine watching Brian’s Song in 6th grade classroom; that’s when I learned “to be a Man” (don’t cry in front of girls). Of course after 35 I don’t care who sees me show my emotions.

 

The book is brilliant. Gaiman and Pratchett tempered each other's tics enough to create a modern refit of The Book of Revelations with doses of Blatty and the Kalevala.

The Amazon series is my favorite new thing I've seen this year. Tennant is great and his chemistry with Michael Sheen pushes this to a whole 'nother level. There's been talk of a sequel. No. Please, no. Mr. Gaiman, you've told this story. Anything further would be an exercise in diminishing returns. Cast Tennant as Morpheus in a Sandman series since the Reeves and Gordon-Leavitt ships have sailed. Sheen would make a brilliant Lucian the Librarian.

edit: Brian's Song is beautiful and the book made me cry. The movie? Not so much. I remember my dad getting weepy over it when it ran on TV.

 

“It’s not who you know, it’s who you blow.” Roger Ailes?

 

The seemingly ultra-short seasons of TV shows now is starting to bug me. Like, "This Is Us" and "The Good Doctor" have both already had their season finales. Seems as if they started, like, six weeks ago, and I know other shows that seem to go with short runs all the time, too. And then, by the time they start up again, you've practically forgotten what was going on from the previous season.

Maybe this should go on the "Things That Irk You" thread?

 

They call them their "Fall Finales" - they'll be back in January. I think as more network shows adopt some measure of serialized arcs in their shows, chopping up the season into segments (Typically Fall, Winter and a final run in April/May, limiting in-season reruns helps create and maintain momentum throughout a season.

 

Comedy relief.

 

I'm not even sure it is that different from what we used to see. Network shows always went into reruns around the holidays. Maybe the breaks are a little longer, but the only real difference is they market the shows differently. Now they make a big deal out of fall finales.

 

It's more than just a marketing emphasis. The broadcast networks have tightened up the schedule. The two sections of the season run straight through without repeats and there are no repeats between the two sections. The change in the schedule allows for narrative arcs, but precludes any repeats like a true episodic TV show would run.

Also, NBC has been showing some sitcoms for half-seasons as part of the fall/winter/spring season design.

 

I've thought the best thing about cable shows was that for the most part they seemed to have an entire 13-ep season mapped out before they shot the first ep of each season. Made for better story telling. I think broadcast should follow the lead of The Good Place and not be shy about developing a show that won't go five plus seasons of 20 plus eps per. Lean into the British model of six or eight ep seasons if that is what the story requires.