TheMightyEthan Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 A show can be both stupid and fun to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 It's true; bad and stupid things can be fun. But I cannot imagine why anyone would think 2 Broke Girls is fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 I have never watched it and have no desire to, I was just responding to the general laugh track comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 I stand by the laugh track comment; it's a crutch for unfunny writing and is prima facie evidence of a show's stupidity. Whether a person thinks such shows are fun is a separate matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 (edited) Hehe. I follow a bunch of comedy writers/script editors and they are all losing their shit over critics talking about 'laugh tracks' (meaning 'canned laughter' because that's the original term to which they are referring) in contemporary sitcoms (see, critics reviewing sitcoms from decades ago would be weird) because there's actually no such thing nowadays. These contemporary sitcoms, to which the aforementioned critics are referring, with recorded laughter are filmed in front of a stage audience, so it's all genuine. There's a case for the absence of recorded laughter being more 'sophisticated' and allowing for different pacing, but at the same time, many of the greats have used it (Seinfeld, Frasier, Father Ted etc.) I think it's mostly the Guardian's media section that is being run by a bunch of idiots, whose most recent thing was writing of Better Call Saul: "Like all the best comedies, it doesn't actually make you laugh." EDIT: HAPPY NOW, ETHAN?! Edited February 11, 2015 by Hot Heart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 "Laugh track" just means recorded laughter, whether canned or from a live audience. Canned laughter is a thing, though it's not used much anymore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laugh_track Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Yeah, it's this that's pissing them off: the term usually implies artificial laughter (canned laughter or fake laughter) made to be inserted into the show Works for some shows, not for others. I wouldn't judge a show on that alone, but it can be an indicator of the type of comedy (constant gags, overacting for laughs, etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 You said there's no such thing, but there is such a thing, is my point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Yeah, I wasn't expecting anyone to get pedantic over my choice of words (but then you are a lawyer). I meant in contemporary comedy, everything the critics are calling 'canned laughter' is actually live audience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Like I always tell my wife: "Say what you mean!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 (edited) I cannot imagine why anyone would think 2 Broke Girls is fun. Totally agree. I don't get that show. Though a show isn't good by virtue of lacking a laugh track; New Girl is utterly unfunny shit. Totally... don't agree? Might just be because I watched it as a time-filler watch. My standards are very low for those. And I watched it with my gf who loved it. But I think it has some genuinely good character writing and some phenomenally funny scenarios. I think season 2 was a peak for that. Apparently it's gone downhill in 4, and season 1 was often ropey. Relied way too heavily on Zooey's manic pixie dream girlness. Oh, oh: I just started watching Seinfeld! From the top, for the very first time. It's quite something. Feels like the proto-sitcom (even though I know it's not that) It makes me realise how really poor shows like How I Met Your Mother are (even though I enjoyed HIMYM). Like, in HIMYM, they turn 'not wanting to know the score to a sports event' into a whole convoluted, ridiculous episode. In Seinfeld, this entire story arc lasts about 20 seconds at the beginning of an early episode and tells us loads about both of the characters in 0.001% of the time it took HIMYM. Edited February 12, 2015 by kenshi_ryden 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Seinfeld kind of is the proto-sitcom, in that it's the foundation for basically everything that came after. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Seinfeld kind of is the proto-sitcom, in that it's the foundation for basically everything that came after. I said that exact line to my colleagues today and the two older ones flipped out about how there were 'millions' of sitcoms around before it. I felt like an idiot even though they misinterpreted what I said, but felt redeemed after I explained exactly what I meant. It's the proto-modern-sitcom. Watching Friends, Frasier, HIMYM, Raymond, 2.5 men, yadda yadda – they're all just Seinfeld's seminal template with variations on top. Though I think Louis may have come along and done it better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Yeah, exactly, obviously there were lots of sitcoms before (I Love Lucy and Happy Days being two super obvious ones), but it was such a defining show that it impacted everything made after. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 I watched all of Mr Ed, the talking horse last month. It's fucking great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Why is there a creepy child in the intro of Homeland? I don't think I've noticed that before Season 4. Freaks me out every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Think that's meant to be Carrie (sp?) Creepy as shit though Amazing intro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 It makes me realise how really poor shows like How I Met Your Mother are (even though I enjoyed HIMYM). Like, in HIMYM, they turn 'not wanting to know the score to a sports event' into a whole convoluted, ridiculous episode. In Seinfeld, this entire story arc lasts about 20 seconds at the beginning of an early episode and tells us loads about both of the characters in 0.001% of the time it took HIMYM. Not sure how far into it you are, but have you seen the Seinfeld episode "The Chinese Restaurant"? Anyway, yeah, it's hard to spot what it did so well because so many things have emulated it since. I believe it even became the trope "Seinfeld is Unfunny" because of it. There's the multi-strand overlapping plot element that wasn't really used before (and didn't really take off in Seinfeld until later in S2), the fact that Elaine was "one of the guys" rather than a romantic interest (though forced into that dynamic by the network for "The Deal"). Which also leads into the less than 'moral' nature of the show and its characters as well as the tendency to tackle those taboo subjects and grey areas in social etiquette. On top of that, there was the occasional element of playing with the format that is often overlooked. So, yeah, fantastic show. Feel free not to like it, but you damn well better respect it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 (edited) Yeah, I don't think Seinfeld is the be-all-end-all so far, but I'm only early in season 2, and I've heard 4 and 8 are where it's at anyway. It's enjoyable. Last night I finished watching the second episode of Black Mirror. Well, Mr Brooker. You old genius. You legend. You cutting, satirical wordsmith. Black Mirror is one of the best sci-fi/speculative fiction shows I've ever seen. Up there with Twilight Zone or Battlestar Galactica at it's best, sometimes exceeding even those. It's totally original and on par with seminal sci-fi writers like Dick, Asimov, or Clarke. That second episode was unbelievable. Such a brilliant criticism of celebrity culture, social media, entertainment culture, the prostitution of the "public", internet culture, office culture... The whole shebang. All totally taken to pieces within a fantastic story. Glad I came to it late so I've got seven episodes to watch. I'd happily rewatch a lot of them anyway. Edited February 20, 2015 by kenshi_ryden 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 My wife and I watched that show a month or so ago and loved it. Looks like there's going to be a season 3 too, so yay! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 (edited) Yeah, it's incredible. Edit: it's globally critically acclaimed, even in China apparently where it's got a huge audience (?!), so I foresee a long, beautiful history for the thing. /edit We watched two more episodes yesterday – The Entire History of You (or whatever), and Be Right Back, or, Souls Resurrected via Social Media. By god they were both tough to watch, by utterly ingenious. So clever. So relentless. So uncompromising. Phenomenal. Did you find episode 3 a tough watch, viewing it as a couple? I watched it with the gf. For us, it reinforced how happy we are, but by god, it's ingenious how much it made us think about memory (especially social memory), problems with it, and how crazy things can get when people have conflicting recollections. Somehow it's all worse when you can just call up any memory at will and share it... Amazing. It's admirable how well they focus the lens of their story, too. Like they don't talk about criminology or entertainment or anything in that third episode, even though the true-memory technology would have massive ramifications on those. Instead they focus on the mundane, the day-to-day, the human relationships and moments which everyone experiences. Phenomenal. I'm actually writing a sci-fi/speculative fiction story for a deadline this Friday, and it's really affecting my work on it. [Adjective]. Sometimes I get too formulaic with these rave-posts, eh? Edited February 23, 2015 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 I don't think watching it as a couple made it any tougher to watch, but yeah, that recording tech could get pretty damn awful. What we decided after talking about it was that it would probably be by far the worst for the generation that was fairly young adults when it first got big, because they'd be young enough to probably use it extensively (unlike older people who would likely just shun it altogether), but old enough that they wouldn't innately understand the new social dynamics the way kids who grew up with it would. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 Huh, it's kinda nice to see Disney actually putting effort into their tv shows again. Gravity Falls excluded, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 I really want to see gravity falls. What is that other one with the gifs? The other one I keep seeing on tumblr is over the fence or something? Someone with a teapot on their head. Looks good but I don't have any of these on my TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) Over the Garden Wall is the one you're thinking of. And you should absolutely watch Gravity Falls. It's one of the best shows they've ever done. I'm actually putting it above Adventure Time at this point. Oh, and the above gifs are from a show called Star vs the Forces of Evil. It's premiering in March but has a pilot episode out right now. Edited February 24, 2015 by Mister Jack 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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