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Tinker, tailor, soldier, sandbagger: sometimes TV from the 70s holds up

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Re: Tinker, tailor, soldier, sandbagger: sometimes TV from the 70s holds up

#21

Post by krylon »

jimjimjim wrote: post #9

Maybe it's just that people only remember the good tv shows/films/music/things from those years and ignore the boring chaff. Maybe there are just as many good tv shows these days. but in my opinion the vast majority of current tv shows/films/music/webcontent is utter undiluted mind numbing banal drivel and there isn't a circle of hell worthy enough to hold those responsible.

FWIW, there is a third season of Twin Peaks currently running (well, it's almost over... the finale will air on Sunday).

I think it appeals to David Lynch fans more than Twin Peaks fans, but so far I loved every single episode.

Re: Tinker, tailor, soldier, sandbagger: sometimes TV from the 70s holds up

#22

Post by pmiller2 »

cerealbad wrote: post #16

The Prisoner (1967-1968) is mesmerising. Le Voyage dans la lune - Georges Méliès 1902 (link provided) holds up after 115 years. Don't be so surprised! Timeless storytelling and design transcends it's delivery medium. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FrdVdKlxUk To the people questioning whether good television is still being made, yes of course it is, it might just take you a few years to find it. True Detective, Farg…

I loved The Prisoner! I especially enjoyed how they would change certain details from episode to episode. It's like gaslighting the audience: highly appropriate, given the subject matter.

Re: Tinker, tailor, soldier, sandbagger: sometimes TV from the 70s holds up

#23

Post by olavk »

jimjimjim wrote: post #9

Maybe it's just that people only remember the good tv shows/films/music/things from those years and ignore the boring chaff. Maybe there are just as many good tv shows these days. but in my opinion the vast majority of current tv shows/films/music/webcontent is utter undiluted mind numbing banal drivel and there isn't a circle of hell worthy enough to hold those responsible.

Well 90% of everything is crap (or is it 95% ?) We just disagree about what 10% is non-crap. Due to the financial structure of TV production, you can be sure the majority of what is produced is considered worth watching by somebody.

In any case, we are in a golden age of TV production with more high quality (writing, action, production) TV shows produced than ever. Enjoy it while it last, so you can complain when it ends.

Re: Tinker, tailor, soldier, sandbagger: sometimes TV from the 70s holds up

#24

Post by jimjimjim »

krylon wrote: post #21
jimjimjim wrote: post #9

Maybe it's just that people only remember the good tv shows/films/music/things from those years and ignore the boring chaff. Maybe there are just as many good tv shows these days. but in my opinion the vast majority of current tv shows/films/music/webcontent is utter undiluted mind numbing banal drivel and there isn't a circle of hell worthy enough to hold those responsible.

FWIW, there is a third season of Twin Peaks currently running (well, it's almost over... the finale will air on Sunday). I think it appeals to David Lynch fans more than Twin Peaks fans, but so far I loved every single episode.

Haven't seen it yet but i just got the original twin peaks dvds for a couple of dollars so ill catch the new ones after these

Re: Tinker, tailor, soldier, sandbagger: sometimes TV from the 70s holds up

#25

Post by pmiller2 »

Plenty of shows from the 1970s still hold up today: MASH, Hogan's Heroes, Columbo, The Incredible Hulk, Battlestar Galactica, Sesame Street, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Roots, etc. It was a great decade for TV, especially if you consider shows like All In The Family (which doesn't really hold up anymore, but is basically Married With Children for the 70s), Good Times, Mork and Mindy, etc.

Re: Tinker, tailor, soldier, sandbagger: sometimes TV from the 70s holds up

#26

Post by coldtea »

jimjimjim wrote: post #9

Maybe it's just that people only remember the good tv shows/films/music/things from those years and ignore the boring chaff. Maybe there are just as many good tv shows these days. but in my opinion the vast majority of current tv shows/films/music/webcontent is utter undiluted mind numbing banal drivel and there isn't a circle of hell worthy enough to hold those responsible.

>but in my opinion the vast majority of current tv shows/films/music/webcontent is utter undiluted mind numbing banal drivel and there isn't a circle of hell worthy enough to hold those responsible.

Well, for tv shows there was been a marked and well established uptick, if not in storytelling, surely in production values (huge, expensive productions) and acting (a-rate actors from movies).

That's how we got shows like Breaking Bad, House Of Cards, Game of Thrones and the rest -- unthinkable in scope and aspirations in the 80s and 90s.

They don't always hold up well for all seasons (the tend to meander after season 3-4), but generally there are far greater than tv shows in the past.

Re: Tinker, tailor, soldier, sandbagger: sometimes TV from the 70s holds up

#27

Post by coldtea »

Retric wrote: post #19
jimjimjim wrote: post #9

Maybe it's just that people only remember the good tv shows/films/music/things from those years and ignore the boring chaff. Maybe there are just as many good tv shows these days. but in my opinion the vast majority of current tv shows/films/music/webcontent is utter undiluted mind numbing banal drivel and there isn't a circle of hell worthy enough to hold those responsible.

The changes to the media landscape make great shows less likely. Companies simply stopped aiming for mass appeal in the same way. If you're really into say magic, then you will forgive more about a show with wizards etc. So, with smaller overall audiences shows simply don't need to be as good.

>The changes to the media landscape make great shows less likely. Companies simply stopped aiming for mass appeal in the same way.

Hmmm? The mass appeal shows were not great by any stretch of the imagination precisely because of aiming for "lowest denominator" mass appeal.

At best they could be good despite going for mass appeal, but aiming for the more tame and universal themes.

By going for smaller audiences the creators can take chances, what some church lady from Iowa or SJW from Portland might find offensive is not as much of an issue, and the storytelling and directing can be more demanding (as it doesn't have to aim to please any average Joe).

Shows like GoT, HoC, Breaking Bad, True Detective (season 1), etc are so much better than the "mass appeal" crap of yesteryear (with some exceptions, like MASH) that it's not even funny.

For one, they don't use "tv actors" as much, but Hollywood a-listers. Second the production values are 10x and 100x those older "mass appeal" shows.

Re: Tinker, tailor, soldier, sandbagger: sometimes TV from the 70s holds up

#28

Post by jhbadger »

pmiller2 wrote: post #25

Plenty of shows from the 1970s still hold up today: MASH, Hogan's Heroes, Columbo, The Incredible Hulk, Battlestar Galactica, Sesame Street, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Roots, etc. It was a great decade for TV, especially if you consider shows like All In The Family (which doesn't really hold up anymore, but is basically Married With Children for the 70s), Good Times, Mork and Mindy, etc.

Although MASH kind of shows the problem from the modern perspective of 1970s TV. At its best, it focused on the grimly humorous aspects of war and surgery (as a modern take on the subject would), but at least half the episodes were just sitcom material. Plus there weren't really story arcs, but they may have been impractical because on broadcast TV where box sets of previous seasons and streaming wasn't available, it would have been hard for someone who didn't watch every episode to follow.

Re: Tinker, tailor, soldier, sandbagger: sometimes TV from the 70s holds up

#29

Post by chha »

Retric wrote: post #19
jimjimjim wrote: post #9

Maybe it's just that people only remember the good tv shows/films/music/things from those years and ignore the boring chaff. Maybe there are just as many good tv shows these days. but in my opinion the vast majority of current tv shows/films/music/webcontent is utter undiluted mind numbing banal drivel and there isn't a circle of hell worthy enough to hold those responsible.

The changes to the media landscape make great shows less likely. Companies simply stopped aiming for mass appeal in the same way. If you're really into say magic, then you will forgive more about a show with wizards etc. So, with smaller overall audiences shows simply don't need to be as good.

I disagree. If you are making a show about wizards which will be aired on Netflix, you know that the target population are those interested in magic. Hence, you can create a more complex and detailed story/plot, characters, settings and so on, because you know that those watching are more interested than the general public.

They are also likely to be less forgiving if they expect a show about magic created by others also interested in magic. A show about magic aired on Discovery Channel on the other hand is likely to be superficial, lacking of deeper analysis or content, and laden with tons of repetition after every single ad break just to avoid confusing viewers with a three minute attention span.

Re: Tinker, tailor, soldier, sandbagger: sometimes TV from the 70s holds up

#30

Post by bazzargh »

thenomad wrote: post #18
jimjimjim wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yep top of the lake is good, thanks. i suspect my comments were a wee bit too strong but it was after cycling through every channel twice and finding nothing.

Honestly, it does feel like the current crop of TV is somewhat weaker than it has been for a while. (I'd argue that Top Of The Lake, which is 4 years old now, doesn't fit in "current crop".) That might just be a taste thing on my part, or it might be a response to the tremendous commercial pressures that were forcing execs to look anywhere, everywhere for a story a couple of years ago.

There's a second series of Top of The Lake, it finished airing in the UK last week, it's definitely current. Apparently coming to the states next month.
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