Things I hate about TV shows - Page 6

[Reverend Jim]

I noticed earlier today that our library has the book so it's on order. I saw the first (and only season) of Flash Forward and thought it could probably be sustained for two seasons at the most.

[Agilemind]

Yeah, having read the book first I was really surprised they chose it for a TV show (I watched some of it, I can't remember if I stuck through to the end of the first season because I found the main character Benford really annoying) since it is really just one event and the repercussions of that which doesn't really lend itself to a multi-episodic story. It would have made a decent movie but far too limited for a long running TV show. Whereas some of his other novels eg. Mindscan, Calculating God or the WWW trilogy have more easily extensible premises.

PS I recommend "Mindscan" and "Wake", "Watch", and "Wonder" for anyone interested in IT & sci-fi. "Calculating God" is ok but not one of his best IMO.

[vegaseat]

Endless sequences of "Housewives ...", those things are just too real.

[HiHe]

Usually the ads are the most interesting part on the TV screen, even though the numerous ads for medicines are strange, many of them don't mention what the drug is for, but then lists, in a fast voice, the many side effects, some rather scary. Loss of vision, loss of liver and loss of life amongst them.

"See your doctor right away!" is common. In most places that is impossible, as the waiting list can be up to two weeks.

Then the ever so silly: "If your erection persists for more than 4 hours, see the doctor right away!"
Why not take a cold shower first and see what happens.

[<M/>]

Usually the ads are the most interesting part on the TV screen, even though the numerous ads for medicines are strange, many of them don't mention what the drug is for, but then lists, in a fast voice, the many side effects, some rather scary. Loss of vision, loss of liver and loss of life amongst them.

I like those ads where they show you a magical pill that does x and before you use it you have to consult with your doctor because of the double digit problems it can create for your health. "Are you over 50? talks about some dude and his life for a minute and how he overcame his problem then says Take Viagra now! says 80 words that we can't understand, then says But before you do, make sure you consult with your doctor because users may develop: diaheria, cancer, nervous breakdown, CJD, shrinkage of genital area, different color in urine, stroke, and..." Lets be honest here, we always see ads like that :P

[Agilemind]

All the ED meds are creating a spike in STDs among over 50s. Though I love the Canadian rules on medicine ads -> you can only mention either the name of the drug or what it used for not both. It leads to some peculiar ads where they try to subltly imply what the drug is for but vague enough that is gets past the bureaucrats.

[woooee]

Someone is locked in the closet and the locking mechanism is on the outside. You would use a key on the inside of the closet?? First, most closets don't have locks. Second, even if it is a supply closet that you want locked, you would use a key to get in from the outside.

Also, they forget to check the person(s) going into the closet for a key that would enable them to get out. I can't tell if the key has to be a mirror image to work from the inside.

[Reverend Jim]

This is a "things I hate" thread but I have to add this TV moment.

SPOILER

I was catching up on Scorpion. In the pilot episode, Toby and Happy are in a room full of rack-mounted drives in a data storage warehouse. Toby has to locate the drive for a particular facility (LAX Airport). He creates an immediate psych profile of the manager and concludes that the drive is on the left (the manager is left-handed, based on a photo), on the upper row (planes fly high, not low), then with a second to spare before the drive is wiped, he yanks the correct drive. Just as I turn to my wife and say "oh bullshit", Toby says "it has LAX written on the drive".

However, this is still saved as a "things I hate" post because Walter tries to read the drive on his laptop. That would be interesting to try because

1. drive space is not allocated to a single physical hot-swappable drive
2. how do you access a rack-mounted drive on a laptop once it is no longer rack-mounted
3. a RAIDed drive (and it WOULD be RAIDed being hot-swappable) would not have all the info on it

[Reverend Jim]

I've always enjoyed comic books. When I was but a lad in the 60s my favourite character was The Flash. I was disappointed in the 1990s TV show. John Wesley Schipp made a great Flash, but they just had to put in the cornball comic relief. With the success of several of the Marvel franchises as well as the Chris Nolan Batman I was looking forward to great things from the latest incarnation of The Flash. Unfortunately, the writers have reverted back to stupid. As my son and I watched The Flash facing down Captain Cold and Heat Wave we turned to each other repeatedly throughout the episode and said just one word. Sniper. Not only did the writers somehow ignore the fact that the police have guns, they also somehow forgot that The Flash is really really fast and could easiy disable or disarm both villains in the blink of an eye.

I do not enjoy being treated like an idiot.

[HiHe]

The bad guy fire a thousand rounds and nobody gets hit.

[Reverend Jim]

I noticed, while watching The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr., that our illustrious hero could fire dozens of rounds in a gunfight and hit nothing, but somehow, when the situation called for it, fire a bullet INTO the barrel of the bad guy.

[Reverend Jim]

As much as I love James Spader I will be crossing The Blacklist off my watch list. It's gone the way of Lost and The X-Files and several other shows that think that piling one mystery on top of another and never explaining them is the key to success. I just got tired of being led ever further down the rabbit hole. The "fulcrum" was the last straw. I have a feeling that Person of Interest will soon be joining it.

[vegaseat]

There seem to be plenty of criminal investigator shows on TV where folks run around with a gun drawn at face level. You also know that nothing can happen to the heroes of each show, since they have to appear in the next episode. The endless repetitiveness (big word) gets to be so boring, that I am bound to fall asleep despite all the shooting noises.

[woooee]

Everyone who "dies" has their eyes open.

[DaveAmour]

I hate films with chess positions or games in which are wrong.

I'm a strong chess player and can spot these in seconds and it really winds me up.

[Reverend Jim]

How do you determine if a chess position is "wrong"?

[DaveAmour]

Sometimes it can be an illegal position - ie someone moves but they are in check. Or someone says it's mate in 3 but it isn't. Or sometimes the players are supposed to be good but the position is clearly arrived at by rubbish play.

I play chess evey day and have done for the past 35 years so can spot them instantly. To me chess is like the Matrix, I don't see the code any more, I just see the blonde!

[ddanbe]

I've banned all TV out of my life. I feel SO MUCH happier. :o)
@DaveAmour 1.P1-f3 or is it 1.N1-f3 in English?

[Reverend Jim]

Does your ban extend to youtube cat videos or is it strictly TV?

[ddanbe]

Youtube from time to time, they have great instruction vids about cooking, math and programming. I don't go to movies or watch TV.

[Reverend Jim]

Shows where the people have "episodic" memory. You know the ones. These are the shows where the bosses/coworkers/whatever forget from episode to episode that the star is always (ALWAYS) right. These shows include Medium, Monk, Quincy, House, etc.

[Reverend Jim]

Guilty pleasure - Scorpion

At least until last night's episode, "Crossroads". The team is on the road transporting a protected witness as they are being tailed by the big bad boss guy and one of his killer henchmen. The bad guys catch up to them as they are stopped at a gas station/convenience store. The team manages to knock out the henchman (who has a machine gun) and the boss man (pistol). Does this "genius team" (which includes a federal agent) take the weapons and tie up the bad guys? No. They run away so the bad guys can continue chasing them.

And so another show has been ruined by shitty writers who think the viewers are morons.

[vegaseat]

I haven't watched TV since my granddaughter (almost 2 years old) came over and pressed just about every button and combination of buttons on my remote control.

I was told by experts (her parents) that not watching TV would actually make me smarter.

[ddanbe]

watching TV would actually make me smarter

I don't know if this is true, it certainly isn't false.

[Reverend Jim]

Not watching Fox News will make you smarter.

[Suzie999]

The trend of every show having to have a full version of some song in it. Usually near the end where a silent moral lesson is learnt, or the hero makes up with someone or other.

If I wanted to listen to some unknown artists new single, I'd look on youtube or spotify or something.

So I wish they'd stop wasting a few minutes promoting a song and add some quality content to the thing.

If you add that song time to the ridiculouse blank screen time between some scenes of the show, it totals about -5 minutes of actual relevant content.

[iMARUF]

TV stations need money to run and advertisements give them the money.
But, TV stations became so creatively needy/greedy that they have forgotten that it's the show which keeps the viewers not the commercials.

[Reverend Jim]

If you add that song time to the ridiculouse blank screen time between some scenes of the show, it totals about -5 minutes of actual relevant content.

Yeah, but it's 5 minutes they didn't have to pay some writer to fill.

I want to take a moment to actually recommend an excellent show. If you get the chance, watch the NetFlix series, Bloodline. The actor who plays Danny is Australian (but does an American accent) and is spectacular in the role of the family's black sheep. It's 13 episodes and worth the investment of every minute.

[Stuugie]

I noticed Bloodline was added to Netflix, not long ago. However, I keep scrolling past it because the synapses didn't look very appealing. Perhaps I will check it out.

[Reverend Jim]

While watching a recent episode of Blue Bloods, the police commissioner (as played by noted Republican, Tom Selleck), was lamenting the "fact" that he and the entire police force were waging a losing battle against the forces of evil. I can see the public agreeing with this position, if their only source of information was TV cop shows and Fox News. However, all available statistics show that crime, especially violent crime, has been on a steady decline.

According to the NY Times...

To be precise, the F.B.I.'s count of violent crimes reported to law enforcement has declined from a rate of 747 violent incidents per 100,000 people in 1993 to 387 incidents per 100,000 people in 2012, which is the most recent year for which it has published complete data. This reflects the fact that over this period, the homicide rate has fallen by 51 percent; forcible rapes have declined by 35 percent; robberies have decreased by 56 percent; and the rate of aggravated assault has been cut by 45 percent. Property crime rates are also sharply down.

I believe it is the public perception that we are living in ever more dangerous times that, in part, has led to the increasing militarization of the police.