Television's Achievements, and My Own
TV is amazing these days. Well, ok, not the networks. And, most of cable is bad too. But, there is a lot of TV that is amazing to behold. Most of it is on HBO. And I'll help you.
I think HBO's business model is: "Let's put the most creative and innovative stuff on TV." First there's Entourage, produced by Mark Wahlberg and starring Adrian Grenier. It's about an up and coming movie star and his friends, and it's funny. Jeremy Piven is in it as an agent, and he is amazingly sleazy. Right after Entourage comes The Comeback, starring Lisa Kudrow. It's a mock reality show about a has-been actress who gets a new role on a hot new tv show. Kudrow is incredible at making you feel sorry for this sad woman who everyone regards as the annoying person they can't really get away from but can't be directy mean to either.
HBO also has some other shows that are hailed by critics, but I haven't seen them. They are: Deadwood, a western, The Wire, a cops and drugs show, and a brand new show called Rome, which takes place during the reign of Julius Caesar, a daunting undertaking.
Now, shows on normal tv that you should definitely check out are these: Harvey Birdman, on Cartoon Network; Over There, on FX; and Arrested Development, on Fox, which might be the most creatively funny show on tv right now. Check them out.
That was weird.
And here, my monument of laziness:
I think HBO's business model is: "Let's put the most creative and innovative stuff on TV." First there's Entourage, produced by Mark Wahlberg and starring Adrian Grenier. It's about an up and coming movie star and his friends, and it's funny. Jeremy Piven is in it as an agent, and he is amazingly sleazy. Right after Entourage comes The Comeback, starring Lisa Kudrow. It's a mock reality show about a has-been actress who gets a new role on a hot new tv show. Kudrow is incredible at making you feel sorry for this sad woman who everyone regards as the annoying person they can't really get away from but can't be directy mean to either.
HBO also has some other shows that are hailed by critics, but I haven't seen them. They are: Deadwood, a western, The Wire, a cops and drugs show, and a brand new show called Rome, which takes place during the reign of Julius Caesar, a daunting undertaking.
Now, shows on normal tv that you should definitely check out are these: Harvey Birdman, on Cartoon Network; Over There, on FX; and Arrested Development, on Fox, which might be the most creatively funny show on tv right now. Check them out.
That was weird.
And here, my monument of laziness:
posted by Monsterbeard @ 12:09 AM
4 Comments:
At 1:49 AM, August 29, 2005,
Anonymous said…
I threw away the garbage can in that bathroom.
I really liked the one episode of Deadwood that I've seen. But the best thing I've watched on TV this summer has been Arrested Development reruns.
My advice to you would be to spend less time watching TV and more time in North Carolina. My advice to me would be to spend less time surfing the internet and more time writing cover letters and doing things like that. You should do that, too.
At 10:31 AM, August 29, 2005,
Seth said…
I concur with the comments about Arrested Development. I would also recommend House, on the same network. I don't go much for procedurals (doctor/lawyer/cop shows) as a rule, but this one is worth seeing. It has a great title character and it's full of wit.
Even though film snobs still turn their nose up at TV as a lesser medium, I think, in general, that the quality of television is at an all time high. With DVD, I can go back and rewatch all the shows I loved as a kid like Knight Rider and MacGyver and The A-Team, and I think much more effort is being made now to write shows that are believable and not so corny and formulaic. Production values have gone way up and many shows are trying to create a cinematic feel. (24, Alias, etc.) There's still a lot of junk out there, to be certain, but I'm finding so many "diamonds in the rough" that I really don't have the time to watch them all.
I watched the premiere of Rome last night and I thought I was watching a movie. I wasn't gripped enough by the story to watch it every week, but major kudos to the people who pulled it off.
At 1:15 AM, August 31, 2005,
Anonymous said…
I like your enthusiasm, Seth. I'm glad not to have TV most of the time because it feels too time consuming. I did read a good analogy the other day that the ratio of good TV to bad TV is a constant. There's more TV now than ever before, and the ratio is still 20:1 (or 50:1)--but that means there's more good stuff than ever before, too.
At 12:52 PM, September 01, 2005,
Anonymous said…
Most of the smart boys that I know who watch TV like Deadwood. I have never seen it. 24 and Six Feet Under are the best shows on television. I enjoy the occasional Entourage episode. Family Man is a cartoon that is very funny. That baby, shiiiiit. I laugh so hard I snort when I watch that.
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