So today I spent some time getting reacquainted with an old friend of mine, TV. As I'm sure you all know that the fall season is here, and with it all our best friends and lots of new ones to try out. Of course, as usual most of the new shows are going to be huge steaming piles of rehashed crap.
Now, that's not to say all new shows are crap. So far this year I've enjoyed Boardwalk Empire, Terriers, Louie, Rubicon, and I'm eagerly anticipating the new show on AMC about zombies, The Walking Dead. The problem I'm running into is that all the best new shows are on about 3 channels. AMC has Rubicon, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men, which everyone says I should be watching. HBO has Boardwalk Empire, True Blood which my wife loves, Bored to Death, and Eastbound and Down. FX is the surprising dark horse in this surprising renaissance of television. They have a surprisingly strong lineup including Terriers, Louie, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and apparently Sons of Anarchy all interspersed with abominations against God like Ghostrider, Wild Hogs and Hitman. I'm kinda psyched that there are networks developing smart, character driven dramas. Especially ones where they can swear.
The disappointing and disgusting thing about this is that network TV can't even come close to this. They are compelled to play it safe and have introduced such world changing TV this season as the new Hawaii Five-0 and Outsourced (or as I like to call it The Office in India, or Mismatched Ethnic Comedy 453)
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He even looks like a lamer Jim |
There are shows I love on network TV, Fox has The Simpsons, Fringe, and Family Guy (sometimes). NBC has The Office, and 30 Rock which are solid even when they suck, and possibly the best new show on network TV last year, Community. ABC is a vast wasteland better left unmentioned, but my parents swear Modern Family is worth checking out. Honestly, CBS isn't much better, but at least it has Amazing Race.
Tangent: My wife and I were watching Amazing Race last week and were shocked that there was no married couple on the show this year. This got me thinking (always a dangerous thing) that maybe we should try out. We have a really solid hook on this one so hear me out. Not only are we a perfect fit in terms of age group, we can play the "last great adventure before we start a family" card. On top of that we have an ace up our sleeve, we are an interracial couple. BOOM! That's pretty much a lock on any couple's reality show. Even better, we're an unusual mix of races, Asian and Hispanic. Also, my wife is hot, so the producers would be happy about that.
Back to my original point, network TV has shit the bed. Cable used to be a joke, or at best a place to relegate the bad movies and reruns of Wings that couldn't be placed on regular TV. By playing it safe, the networks have eroded their own product to the point that everything is just a variation on a theme at this point. Breaking Bad tells the story of a man in a horrible situation who turns to making and selling meth to provide for his family, and doesn't make it a sob story or create a clear image of who is a good guy and who's a bad guy. They're all just people dealing with shit.
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It's hard to explain why, but this guy is the protagonist |
Meanwhile, according to the ratings, the most popular show on TV is Dancing With the Stars, a show where people watch "stars"...dance. I say "stars" because this season has David Hasselhoff and Bristol Palin. What the fuck, America? This is the best we can do? What's compelling about this? I am seriously asking, because I don't even kind of get it.
I guess, overall I'd say I'm encouraged that at least there's a place for these smart, deep shows that actually focus on creating characters you have feelings about that don't become caricatures of themselves after 2 seasons, but it's still distressing how bad network TV has gotten. I know I don't have many readers, but nothing will change until we make them change. Refuse to watch the garbage they put on. Don't watch Steven Tyler and J-Lo on American Idol this year. Instead let's focus on giving good shows their due. Tune in for an episode of The Walking Dead when it premiers. Let's show the networks you won't settle for garbage anymore. Besides, do you really wanna look at this every week?
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He looks like a zombie, but the ones on A&E eat brains
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As always, visit my wife's Etsy shop
here and thanks for your support. Tell your friends if you don't think this sucks. If you DO think this sucks, just keep it to your self.