Like any self-respecting persons born in the late 1960s, who came up during the 1970s, and came of age in the 1980s, my husband and I were bred to be cop show groupies.*
When we were dating, a film with a most preposterous title hit the box office, and one of the "marquee" names was best known for his role in a teen-angst drama series. We pointed. We laughed. We mocked.
Fast-forward a few years, and a TV series of the same name (different actors) hits the airwaves. Again, we pointed. We laughed. We mocked some more. "Didn't this thing bomb at the box office?" we said. "How did they ever get a series?" we said. "This is ridiculous," we said. "Who watches this crap?" we said. "Who writes this crap?" we said.
The only words I uttered about that show, and the film which spawned it, that I didn't end up eating after I actually watched it, were along the lines of, "Well, the title is clever, if you assume an inherent ironic contrast." Note the use of I, there. Because we were youngish and in love, I fried up Scott's reply of, "You are giving them
way
too much credit," with a little butter, and served them up warm, just for him.
I predict Gus will need a hearty, musky, earthy little Chianti, to wash down his posts, come June 8. Who's doing the PayPal thing?
* Columbo, MacLoud, MacMillan and Wife, Adam 12, Starsky and Hutch, S.W.A.T., Police Woman, The Rookies, The Mod Squad, Hill Street Blues, Barney Miller, The Rockford Files, Kojak, Cannon, Baretta, Quincy M.E., Mission Impossible, Hawaii 5-0, Cagney and Lacey
My main barrier to entry is elf defined fine upstanding moral shows
You got some sorta problem with elves???
I predict Gus will need a hearty, musky, earthy little Chianti, to wash down his posts, come June 8. Who's doing the PayPal thing?
I've got 99 cents left in my account, but I'll gladly give it to the cause.
Plei is me. It's very weird how things about babies didn't bother me, pre-baby. I started watching a repeat of CSI I had seen and enjoyed involving a dead baby and I nearly hyperventilated. Stoopid hormones.
Yeah, I'm kind of sad Scott's getting killed off in the dead-baby episode. I don't know what I'll do. As a parent, I avoid stuff like that, because my anxiety-driven parental imagination can whup Tim's word processing program anyday, when it comes to horrible things happening to kids. I don't need to feed the beast. I'll probably TiVo it, and let him watch it, and tell me if I can handle it.
My main barrier to entry is elf defined fine upstanding moral shows
You got some sorta problem with elves???
Hee. I caught that before you posted, and was surpised no one had called me on it.
To me, the 'best' (I hate that word) episodes of Angel are in Season 2, around the Reprise/Reunion/Epithany story arc. Why? The story is ultimately routed in very human areas - the internal battle of 'good/evil', falling off the bandwagon, going over the human edge, reaching the end of the line... Yeah, it's a story about a vampire. That puts a lot of people off from the offset. However, if people can get past that barrier and look at those episodes, anybody who's lived and lost themselves in their 20s should 'get it'. Whilst great drama, it also touched some people (ie me) in a very real, relational way.
The Inside's premise (in terms of marketing), to me, represents a way to take a Tim story, and wrap it in a more accessible format. Generally, people can watch CSI. Try to get them to watch Firefly... You could be in trouble. Scifi and westerns.
I'm not saying Firefly was a bad premise (in fact, the way it was structured was at times TV brilliance), but it wasn't an easy sell. The Inside is an easier sell, it appears, from the outset. And that's a good thing.
Tim, do you mind if I republish your last post on t'interweb? I'm not big on republishing unless it is okay for mass consumption.
I've got 99 cents left in my account, but I'll gladly give it to the cause.
Okay. Scratch the Chianti. Per google, if we raise another four bucks, then Riunite Lambrusco, it is. Bottoms up, Gus.
I have (gulp) horror issues. Seriously. I don't let my son tell me the plots of horror movies. On the other hand, I do read John Douglas. I'll be giving
The Inside
a try, but it's possible it's just not my show because I'm a wimp.
Until Tim pointed it out, I didn't even realize it could apply to the whole political situation of Israel.
This might be hard to find, but you are The Nilly. Do you know where this was said?
It's so funny, because I swear my "barriers" are sci-fi and fantasy. I don't seek them out and never think I'll like them. Shows about crime and killing, otoh? Right up my (dark and scary) alley. So I'd be checking out The Inside no matter what, I'm sure.
or the special powers a human being needs in order to fight vampires is much less interesting to me, than the people involved in those situations, their stories, and the way these stories resonate in my life and thoughts.
I have to admit, this was my biggest barrier to watching Buffy and why I didn't start watching until season 6, after I'd gotten a healthy dose of a Thanksgiving Day BtVS marathon on FX. I watched one and couldn't stop watching. Yet, if it was a book, I would have picked it right up. Which makes one stop and think about what one wants from a book vs a TV show. But that's a different topic for another day.
My biggest barrier is sitcoms. Hates 'em all. There isn't a single one out there (in my mind, not necessarily anyone elses) that doesn't portray all people as exceedingly stupid and can't do anything without someone else coming along to bail them out and point out the error of their ways in a cutesy way. Barf. I hate cutesy. The only sitcom I even half-way liked was Roseanne and even that turned my stomach more often than not. Not because of the writing, but because of the basic premise. Totally dysfunctional family still manages to hold it all together and raise fine. upstanding. children! Married with Children made me gag, too. And don't let me get started on the Simpsons or any of that ilk.
I honestly like procedurals and medical shows, but I don't watch each and everyone just because that's what they are. Like Cindy, I grew up watching all the same cop shows yet I've never been a Hill Street Blues, an NYPD Blues, a Homicide fan or any of the current crop of cop shows. It's not so much that there's a barrier, but there's no compelling reason to watch them. No one's said to me "you must sit down and watch this because." And I've found that that is what I need. Testimonial.
TV promos are pretty much wasted on me, even if I get a chance to see one. I didn't start watching Alias until the second season after one of my coworkers kept raving about it and I figured I just had to try it. The only reason I'm watching Tim's is because I hang out here and I know about it through this forum. I haven't caught a single promo because there's no shows on FOX I'm currently watching. I've picked up Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy from word of mouth, not from promos or because it's a "genre" that I prefer. I probably bust the hell out demographics and give marketing departments heartburn because they have no idea how to get to me.
