GeekiN Episode #80 – Television Report Card
Monday, July 28th, 2008
How would you rate the current state of the television industry? That’s the question we discussed in detail at the Television Report Card call-in show over on our GeekiNput page. We talk about all things TV. Well, not all things, actually. We left out those spoilery things, as it’s virtually impossible to have watched everything on TV currently.
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Book of the Month
Chew Omnivore Edition Hardcover Vol. 1From writer John Layman and artist Rob Guillory comes the story of Tony Chu, a detective with a weird secret. Tony is Cibopathic. He gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats. He's joined the Special Crimes Division of the FDA, to investigate their sickest and most bizarre cases, as long as he doesn't mind nibbling on the corpse of a murder victim to figure out whodunit, and why.
Sorry I had to duck out so quick – had to help a friend with a resume. Looking forward to hearing all I missed!
Signed, your faithful TV junkie.
You cut me off! YOU BASTARDS!!!!
I didn’t actually intend to come to this one but I did, you guys made me stay stay up til 4 in the god damn morning, and Randy then just ended it all by bad mouthing Bring it On… lame
Good show everyone.
These are always a ton of fun. I’ll be sad to see them go.
You guys cut SpikeBad off!? Ku-dos!
Isn’t terry goodkind the randriod who writes about rape all the time?
By the way, what’s the deal with Spikebad. Where does his awesome rep come from?
There are several people that have been on the site for almost the entirety of the 3 years we’ve been around. Spikebad is one of those. Also, from the days where the forums were a hopping place, he was one of the more vocal members. He isn’t short on opinions, and is definitely willing to share them. However, apparently his speakers were going out when I said, “Get in line now, because we aren’t taking anyone that doesn’t.”
“However, apparently his speakers were going out when I said, “Get in line now, because we aren’t taking anyone that doesn’t.”
I was probably tuning out around that point. My ears have a tendency to only hear what they want to sometimes.
I should’ve stuck up for Bring It On, Jack. I was about to defend it (I really like that movie) and it’s bettre than Stick It.
@Mr. Pointy – You’re my hero!! I also LOVE Project Runway! And I, like you, have absolutely no idea why. It continues to baffle me, but I continue to watch. *shrug*
My “guilty pleasure” when it comes to reality TV is So You Think You Can Dance. Some of the dances they do on that show are really cool and creative (and some are not). I can thank my wife for getting me hooked on the show.
I think the whole appeal of Project Runway (for me at least) is just hearing Tim Gunn talk. Everything he says is Gold! I also have a theory that all men who watch that show are closet homosexuals who wish that they could make a beautiful dress out of plants alone…
I have a lot of guilty pleasures, most of which people will scoff at and I will respond, ” They are guilty pleasures” because they are.
They include: Beauty and the Geek, I love New York, Rock of love, I love money, well all vh1 shows… Nip/Tuck ( i actually don’t feel guilty about this one I just don’t know why I like it so much…) and of course (Kathy Griffin my life on the d- list.
Let the moans and groans begin…
And to Randy and Wayne who hate the office…
You said it was unbearable for you to watch. Is that because Michael Scott is a complete idiot? He’s the Steve Carell character btw. When i first started watching the show I was like “This guy is ridiculous, that was extremely offensive.” After watching a few episodes, he grew on me and besides the Jim and Pam romance, he is my fav aspect of the show, so give it a chance.
And Scott watch Arrested development! At least the first season!
I know it may be shocking to all of you, I have a flaw, I too watch a reality TV show… My Suoer Sweet Sixteen gets me everytime it’s on, I can’t stand the people on the show, they all make me sick but I always watch… Thank you Mr. Pointy, it’s nice to see we agree on things again.
Also, Wayne thought Man of the Year was funny? FUNNY!><!?!?!?!
I thought that exact same thing Jack…
My router fried during the show and I got booted, which sucks because this is the one I was looking forward to most. Tv is an awesome topic seeing as the industry is producing so many great shows right now.
I listened to most of the show today and I have to say that while I love the Office and arrested development I agree with Scott on the subject. Its just not for most people. the problem with AD is that you have to watch it from the start to get 60-70% of the jokes which are mostly in-jokes which doesnt help. plus its really offensive (you know, with the incest and such) and the characters are not conventionally likable. I still think it has the most brilliant sitcom writing Ive seen and it won 6 emmys in two years, but it was also cancelled three times because most people were turned off by it.
I can’t believe I forgot to mention MST3K. I have a friggin’ poster of the movie in my room. Still, to this day, one of my favorite shows ever.
I absolutely adore Project Runway- my mom watches it and she got me totally hooked. It’s the only reality show I can stand, but I think that has more to do with it being a “contest” and there is actually skill involved. I love Tim Gunn and his whole “make it work” attitude. It kind of sucks though because it’s mainstream fashion oriented, the opinions of the judges are usually same-y same-y.
I think reality tv is fine, just as long as you know it’s not “reality” and that it’s scripted, edited, and then ADR’d. Even Project Runway.
@Saberj, I read a Game of Thrones and finished it, but had a very hard time getting into it. I never felt compelled to pick up the next one. Have you ever finished reading The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan? I know I made a thread here a couple years ago and you said you started but for some reason didn’t finish. It’s a very epic series and very long. If you can like ASoIaF I think you ill like this. In the later books they get a bit more political, but nothing compared to G. R.R. Martin’s series (IMO).
I have to say I am totally stoked for the Legend of the Seeker. I read the first few books years ago and always meant to read them again and get caught up. I hope it goes well so they might adapt more books series to tv.
@Polygon_Wizard, YTYCD is the only reality show I watch. I LOVE it, lol. Other shows with dance really bug me. I think it’s because I danced most my life so I nitpick. I freaked when Will got the boot.
@Nick: The main reason I don’t like The Office is because I don’t like the style. I don’t like the “overly realistic” approach to it, where it looks like it was filmed with a camcorder and in a “real” office setting. I understand that it may be the reason many people like it, but it doesn’t do it for me. Also, I’m not a big fan of comedies in general, because they don’t really give me anything to take away from it. Even in cases where I can acknowledge that the show is a very good comedy, it just doesn’t sit make me want to keep watching. It actually doesn’t stop with comedies. Shows that have a little more oomph to them still aren’t enough to keep me watching. I think Gilmore Girls is brilliant, but it’s not for me. Same with Studio 60. I wanted to love it, but after a few episodes when it stopped being more about the show itself, rather than the desperate attempt to save it from utter failure, it stopped gripping me.
That’s my problem, basically. I can’t speak for Wayne, but for me comedies just don’t make me want to watch them. That’s whether they are entertaining or not. Like I said though, The Office bugs me in a lot of ways. I just don’t like anything about it. Oddly enough, I love Steve Carell. And I also love movies that are comedies. Because you get 1-2 hours of the funniest stuff they have, and you are done. You get your laughs in, and you have no further commitment to it. With comedies on the air, I can’t bring myself to watch the same characters week after week after week.
@Care: It’s funny you say that. Wheel of Time had the same effect on me as ASoIaF had on you. It just didn’t pull me in. I got about halfway through the first book, and got distracted. I still want to go in and give it another chance someday, but I haven’t gotten to yet. I can’t wait to see whether or not ASoIaF gets its TV series or not. It has some wonderfully deep characters, intricate plotlines, etc. I know that if it was in television form, a lot more people would just be able to see some of the stuff unfolding easier. It’s insane how detailed and deep that series is. It has a lot of content that builds on itself.
As for the people during the chat that said a book should grab you from minute 1 (Which I still think very few books do). I didn’t want to continue discussing it off topic in this episode, but I wanted to clarify here that I don’t think the book is at all “bad” to begin with. It’s just not the same, as deep, or easy to follow as it becomes later. The first book is completely different then all the others. But I still found it good, especially when you go back on it later. So, yeah. But still, I’ve never claimed that it will be everyone’s thing. But it’s definitely one of the best stories I’ve ever seen, with tremendous characters. But to each their own. You continue defending your Office, I’ll continue defending my SoIaF, and we’ll see who turns blue in the face first
Well, since we’ve got a small discussion on Song of Ice and Fire going on, I think I’ll join in for a bit. For those who have read it (probably just SaberJ), what did you think of A Feast for Crows? Specifically, I want to know what you think in regards to it being sort of half of the story for that time period seeing as how Martin narrowed to focus to a certain group of characters.
I read the entire book without knowing that he was going to focus on certain characters while completely leaving others out. I was really missing the characters that he left out, so I was a bit disappointed at the end of the book, and the story felt a little incomplete to me. What was there was really good, but a lot of my favorite characters (such as Jon Snow, Tyrion, and Dany) weren’t included. At least A Dance with Dragons is supposed to take place over the same time period as Feast, telling the story of these other characters.
All of this makes me really wish A Dance with Dragons was already out. Hopefully Martin will finish it soon.
A Feast for Crows is probably my least favorite book in the series, but that’s not saying much. I still loved it. I did miss some characters, especially Tyrion, but I did like what we got. The highlights of the book for me were the Jamie and Cercei chapters. I hate Cercei, but seeing the world through her eyes was very interesting because we finally saw just how paranoid and delusional she really is.
I thought the Brienne chapters were pretty slow. Mostly just her wandering around Westeros, similarly to Arya in books 2 and 3. But her story sure ended awesomely. Actually, now that I think of it, every character ended on a huge cliff-hanger in that book.
Here’s hoping for Dance by next year!
I always love the Arya chapters as she is one of my favorites. I don’t really like Cersei either, but her chapters were definitely interesting. I actually liked the Brienne chapters as I find her character very interesting.
I bet we’ll be seeing a bunch more cliffhangers in Dance as well. I can’t wait!
Feast for Crows felt incomplete because that’s what it was.
But yeah, I didn’t mind it that much, because I knew going in what had happened. To me, Tyrion and Jon’s chapters had gotten so freaking awesome that I didn’t mind waiting a little more for them. And Arya’s story made the wait tolerable. I like Brienne’s chapters when she has someone to play off of. A Jaime or a Pod. They make her more interesting, IMO.
Dances is going to rock. Too bad they are saying Spring next year, now.
I’ve never read SoIaF (YET. I swear, it’s on my pile) but I completely disagree that a book has to grab you from page 1.
I heard a great piece of writing advice from Orson Scott Card (paraphrased) “Why does everyone think you have to start in the middle of the action. Yes, the Greeks did it- but that’s because their audience already knew what was going on. They all knew the story. Tolkien wrote the best book of the 20th century and it takes 100 or so pages for the story to start. The story doesn’t start until the hobitts meat Aragorn in Brie. You don’t have to open with a hook. Just begin the story at the beginning.”
I blame the instant gratification of television and movies.
I love Orson Scott Card. Ender’s Game is still one of my favorite novels. It has interesting characters and a very good plot that is paced almost perfectly. I would love to see a movie made out of it, but they’d have to get a ton of good child actors to play in it. Card seems to be pretty protective of it, so if a movie does ever get made, hopefully it will have a good chance of being great.
The rest of the Ender series is completely different (and I mean “completely” in that the direct sequels to Ender’s Game get more and more philosophical in their presentation), but just as good as the first book. The more recent Shadow series of books is much closer to the tone of Ender’s Game as it follows a bunch of characters from that book, just not Ender himself.
I’m pretty sure that they’re in the process of putting the film together. Wolfgang Peterson was going to be directing it, but last I heard he bowed out and they’re looking for a replacement. I do know that OSC wrote the screenplay, so that has to be a good thing
But yeah, the child actor thing is a similar fear that I’m having with The Last Airbender movie.
After The Happening, I’m just worried about the whoel project in general.
Finally listened to this show guys. Always hard for me to find 3 hours. Really enjoyed this. Thanks to the manic and enjoyable Rusty James, I think I added five obscure TV series to an already overlong Netflix list! The format worked great because you have opinionated and informed fans (that clearly watch too much TV!)
Thanks for the great few hours of entertainment! Just like sitting around with smart, passionate friends with common tastes and arguing about great shows – and discovering new future-favorites.