[tVtRoPEs] Let's talk about shows which follow this particular trajectory - Page 3

**Satan's Onion** · 11-02-2010, 01:23 AM

House is, by now, pretty firmly in the "Show is shitty! But still fun to watch, mostly for the enjoyment of bitching about its many failings" category at this point for me. I initially started tuning in because hanging out around here and reading 8-Bit Theater has given me something of a taste for lead characters who are not simply flawed but fundamentally and fascinatingly broken, and House used to provide that marvelously. Now he's going to a therapist and he has his one twu wub in Cuddy and they're trying to give the other characters relationship dramaz and Chase's So I Murdered A Genocidal African Warlord thing from last season or so and---well, I just don't want any of that. I want less Huddy and more of that sweet, sweet WilHouse ~~action~~ dialogue. (I still kind of like Taub, though. He has some relationship dramaz, but not quite as much, so at his best he kind of sits on the metaphorical sidelines and assholes it up the way House used to. Y'know, back when he was awesome.)

But enough of that. You know a show that's still at the awesome end of the spectrum? Community. Community's the bee's knees, you guys. It's practially the only thing NBC has done right in years.

Magus · 11-02-2010, 12:35 PM

Speaking of NBC, the American version of The Office kind of follows this trend, at least insofar as it has become completely by the numbers and boring to me at this point in time. I have a hard time telling the new season from the past two, I tune in sometimes and think I must be watching a rerun or something. It is not necessarily bad but it is stale.

Fifthfiend · 11-02-2010, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

But enough of that. You know a show that's still at the awesome end of the spectrum? Community. Community's the bee's knees, you guys. It's practially the only thing NBC has done right in years.

This is one of those shows I'm going to 'discover' after it's been on for five seasons and literally the entire world has already told me about it a trillion times, after which I will insufferably harangue everybody who has already told me about it a million times about how totally great it is.

**Satan's Onion** · 11-02-2010, 11:39 PM

I'd suggest jumping in to Community now, not least because it's up against ~~XKCD: The Sitcom~~ The Big Bang Theory so it may not even have five seasons.

Sithdarth · 11-03-2010, 12:05 AM

So that's why The Big Bang Theory is suddenly on Thursdays instead of right after (or was it right before) How I Met your Mother. I guess they thought a show sort of about academia and nerds would compete better with Community then whatever crap they had there.

Thanks to the magic of DVR and Hulu in case the magic of DVR fails I watch both shows anyways. The internet and DVRs are totally killing the concept of a TV line up. I seriously don't even know why they bother anymore.

katiuska · 11-03-2010, 12:14 AM

It still bewilders me that "sitcom about physicists nerding it up" is a thing that exists.

Sithdarth · 11-03-2010, 12:22 AM

Maybe it's because I'm a physicist (ok still in training and more as some sort of unholy combination of theoretical physicist, experimental physicist, engineer, chemist, mathematician, biologist, geologist, etc that people like to call a material science major) but I think it took too goddamn long really. Also, it's 3 physicists and an engineer to be specific. To be even more specific it is an Experimental Physicist who appears to be working in some sort of optics related field, a theoretical physicist whose working on the origins of everything or whatever insane notion pops into his head as any good theoretical physicist would do, an Astrophysicists you is basically out of work but helping the theoretical physicist because that's what all good astrophysicists do when they aren't freezing their buts off at telescopes, and an Aerospace engineer who only has a masters and seems to work on the space station a lot for some reason despite numerous failures and a lack of proper qualifications.

katiuska · 11-03-2010, 01:17 AM

...So, um, if we want to talk about shows that we love to hate, but don't necessarily follow this pattern, does that belong in a new thread, or should we keep our show-bitching in here for now?

Doc ock rokc · 11-03-2010, 02:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

House is, by now, pretty firmly in the "Show is shitty! But still fun to watch, mostly for the enjoyment of bitching about its many failings" category at this point for me. I initially started tuning in because hanging out around here and reading 8-Bit Theater has given me something of a taste for lead characters who are not simply flawed but fundamentally and fascinatingly broken, and House used to provide that marvelously. Now he's going to a therapist and he has his one twu wub in Cuddy and they're trying to give the other characters relationship dramaz and Chase's So I Murdered A Genocidal African Warlord thing from last season or so and---well, I just don't want any of that. I want less Huddy and more of that sweet, sweet WilHouse ~~action~~ dialogue. (I still kind of like Taub, though. He has some relationship dramaz, but not quite as much, so at his best he kind of sits on the metaphorical sidelines and assholes it up the way House used to. Y'know, back when he was awesome.)

Because Fuck Character devolopment right? Yeah I know what you mean the Fundamental "broken" characters are a fantastic and lovely but they get old with time. Take Black mage from 8 bit. He was still Broken at the end but he still had some character development in the story. House is the same way. He still is broken Its just that he is developed a little more. House's...Bromance is still there but Wilson is becoming more House like (playing tricks and pranks on house, being a little more rude or forward and a bit cold hearted in his own ways) while house is becoming more Wilson (he is a little nicer and thoughtful then before but basically mimicking Wilson.) which is mirroring quite nicely with Hom(es wa)tson bromance that its based off of.

**Satan's Onion** · 11-03-2010, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc ock rokc

Because Fuck Character devolopment right? Yeah I know what you mean the Fundamental "broken" characters are a fantastic and lovely but they get old with time. Take Black mage from 8 bit. He was still Broken at the end but he still had some character development in the story. House is the same way. He still is broken Its just that he is developed a little more. House's...Bromance is still there but Wilson is becoming more House like (playing tricks and pranks on house, being a little more rude or forward and a bit cold hearted in his own ways) while house is becoming more Wilson (he is a little nicer and thoughtful then before but basically mimicking Wilson.) which is mirroring quite nicely with Hom(es wa)tson bromance that its based off of.

Dude, it's a TV show. You sure "Because fuck character development" isn't a bit harsh, considering?

My problem isn't that he's developing as a character; it's that I think he's developing in a way that I consider boring and trite. Oh, look, he's snarky on the outside, but he's much nicer now, and he's kicked drugs and paired off with the woman of his dreams and they will stay together no matter how implausible their relationship becomes! (Seriously, he's pulled too many dick moves and she was completely over him right up to the point where she suddenly wasn't for some reason.) As far as I can tell, either this is going to become "...and he lived happily ever after, /show" or they're going to be one of those on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again ad infinitum couples and I'm not really looking forward to either. (That said, since they're gonna do Huddy anyway, it might be kind of interesting if it happened like "and he's alone again after sabotaging this relationship from the word go because redemption and self-improvement don't happen uniformly, all at once, and relationships don't necessarily work just because you really want it", but that doesn't seem to be the way things are going so far, and I'm not sure I trust these writers to be quite that subtle.) I also don't think the other members of the team are sufficiently fleshed out to make their various pairings-off much more than filler.

Look, I can see this one turning into a big ol' huge flame war if we both don't keep our composure here. Can we let it rest by accepting that we're both clearly getting very different things out of this show?

11-02-2010, 01:23 AM	#21
Satan's Onion Swing You Sinners! Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: 4th Street Posts: 2,666	House is, by now, pretty firmly in the "Show is shitty! But still fun to watch, mostly for the enjoyment of bitching about its many failings" category at this point for me. I initially started tuning in because hanging out around here and reading 8-Bit Theater has given me something of a taste for lead characters who are not simply flawed but fundamentally and fascinatingly broken, and House used to provide that marvelously. Now he's going to a therapist and he has his one twu wub in Cuddy and they're trying to give the other characters relationship dramaz and Chase's So I Murdered A Genocidal African Warlord thing from last season or so and---well, I just don't want any of that. I want less Huddy and more of that sweet, sweet WilHouse ~~action~~ dialogue. (I still kind of like Taub, though. He has some relationship dramaz, but not quite as much, so at his best he kind of sits on the metaphorical sidelines and assholes it up the way House used to. Y'know, back when he was awesome.) But enough of that. You know a show that's still at the awesome end of the spectrum? Community. Community's the bee's knees, you guys. It's practially the only thing NBC has done right in years. __________________ Good evening, ladies. Please enter and be tained .

11-02-2010, 12:35 PM	#22
Magus Archer and Armstrong vs. the World Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 7,164	Speaking of NBC, the American version of The Office kind of follows this trend, at least insofar as it has become completely by the numbers and boring to me at this point in time. I have a hard time telling the new season from the past two, I tune in sometimes and think I must be watching a rerun or something. It is not necessarily bad but it is stale. __________________ The Valiant Review

11-02-2010, 11:39 PM	#24
Satan's Onion Swing You Sinners! Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: 4th Street Posts: 2,666	I'd suggest jumping in to Community now, not least because it's up against ~~XKCD: The Sitcom~~ The Big Bang Theory so it may not even have five seasons. __________________ Good evening, ladies. Please enter and be tained .

11-03-2010, 12:14 AM	#26
katiuska Unlicensed Practitioner Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 801	It still bewilders me that "sitcom about physicists nerding it up" is a thing that exists. __________________ If I try too hard my brain explodes, so don't expect me to be witty on purpose.

11-03-2010, 01:17 AM	#28
katiuska Unlicensed Practitioner Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 801	...So, um, if we want to talk about shows that we love to hate, but don't necessarily follow this pattern, does that belong in a new thread, or should we keep our show-bitching in here for now? __________________ If I try too hard my brain explodes, so don't expect me to be witty on purpose.

11-03-2010, 12:05 AM	#25
Sithdarth Friendly Neighborhood Quantum Hobo Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Outside the M-brane look'n in Posts: 5,403	So that's why The Big Bang Theory is suddenly on Thursdays instead of right after (or was it right before) How I Met your Mother. I guess they thought a show sort of about academia and nerds would compete better with Community then whatever crap they had there. Thanks to the magic of DVR and Hulu in case the magic of DVR fails I watch both shows anyways. The internet and DVRs are totally killing the concept of a TV line up. I seriously don't even know why they bother anymore.

11-03-2010, 12:22 AM	#27
Sithdarth Friendly Neighborhood Quantum Hobo Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Outside the M-brane look'n in Posts: 5,403	Maybe it's because I'm a physicist (ok still in training and more as some sort of unholy combination of theoretical physicist, experimental physicist, engineer, chemist, mathematician, biologist, geologist, etc that people like to call a material science major) but I think it took too goddamn long really. Also, it's 3 physicists and an engineer to be specific. To be even more specific it is an Experimental Physicist who appears to be working in some sort of optics related field, a theoretical physicist whose working on the origins of everything or whatever insane notion pops into his head as any good theoretical physicist would do, an Astrophysicists you is basically out of work but helping the theoretical physicist because that's what all good astrophysicists do when they aren't freezing their buts off at telescopes, and an Aerospace engineer who only has a masters and seems to work on the space station a lot for some reason despite numerous failures and a lack of proper qualifications.