What was the last TV show you watched?

[greatestescaper]

It was a show that stood out among the general run of seventies television for the quality of its writing, along with "All in the Family" and the Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart shows. Those four programs probably did more to shape my own tastes in comedy than any other media of the time, and I was later impressed to learn how many of those writers had deep roots in radio.

People will go on about how today is the "golden age of television," but that stops at drama. There is very little comedy on television today that's as well-written as the best sitcoms of forty years ago. The best writers working in TV during the '70s were working in comedy.

I was just talking with my grandmother the other day, catching each other up on what shows we were watching, and my grandmother explained that she was not watching any comedy shows. I told her that for years I've been avoiding comedy, especially since the writers today often fail to have a punchline of any kind, and yet add a laugh track. I find myself asking, where was the joke in that? Why is that funny? And why do you seem to think that adding laugh track makes something funny? That's not to say that there is not good comedy out there today, it's just very hard to find. And most shows are a poor imitation of the comedy greats like Bob Newhart! Which makes me especially grateful for the internet, as I can call up all these classic shows.

And, on a similar topic, lately I've been sharing the Dean Martin comedy roasts with my friends (we're all in our late twenties), and we're all of an opinion that roasts today are a pale shadow of those which featured Don Rickles, Bob Hope, and other Dean Martin regulars.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I loved the Newhart show, especially, and was very impressed when I noticed Bill Idelson's name in the credits. Idelson played Rush, the son-figure in the brilliant radio comedy "Vic and Sade" from 1932-42, and was thoroughly schooled in the humor of Paul Rhymer, V&S's creator and sole writer, and one of the most gifted humorists of the entire 20th Century. Rhymer's sensibility, strained thru Idelson, is very prominent in much of the "Bob Newhart Show's" absurdism. It's that kind of quality of writing that drives a great comedy -- and there just don't seem to be very many writers like that left anymore who understand the difference between real character-based comedy and cheap one-liner jokes.

I think the hardest I ever laughed at a TV show in my life was during a Bob Newhart episode when Bob and Emily were throwing a Bicentennial party, and Mr. Carlin, the neurotic, wanted to come because "he gets lonely every Bicentennial." That's one of the funniest lines I've ever heard in a lifetime of studying comedy, but it only works because of the very specific character involved. That's what great comedy writing is all about.

 

[Stearmen]

The Thundermans. I was over at my neighbors house, they were babysitting their Granddaughters, age 3 and 5 I think. They insisted I stay and watch the show. I am increasingly convinced, that they may look like to adorable little girls, but they are actually evil geniuses in disguise, and get great pleasure by torturing me!

 

[Fading Fast]

Second episode of "Timeless." So far, the characters are pretty two dimensional, the dialogue is pat and the stories lack the excitement of time travel / the excitement of being at a different time in history and instead focus on their save-the-moment, 1970s-style plot.

That said, the one promise this show is holding onto is how their characters' time travel is changing the present. Most time travel shows allude to the risks, and some have shown some change, but this one is hinting at taking that concept much further. Let's hope so, otherwise, there's not much here.

 

[Fading Fast]

Also caught the first episode of "Frequency," another time-travel-ish show where a ham radio allows two different time periods to connect. Specifically, the radio allows a daughter in present day to talk with her now dead father back when he was alive in 1996. This is wrapped around a murder and drug cartel investigation that the police detective father was involved in and his present-day police detective daughter is now getting pulled into. So far, while the ham radio connect is hokey, the writing is tighter and the characters feel more real than in "Timeless."

 

[Doctor Strange]

Timeless is okay, and I agree that it's doing more with the ramifications-of-timeline-changes-to-personal-lives than even The Flash, which is surprising, since that show thrives on that trope. I am hoping that the show will get away from too-famous events like the Lincoln assassination as it finds itself. I do think the cast, especially Abigail Spencer, bring more to the show than the plots/scripts themselves or the production quality. Anyway, I plan to keep watching. (But I wasn't planning on trying Frequency.) In other SF/fantasy shows I've been watching...

Westworld - I didn't like the second episode as much as the pilot, but this is a gorgeously produced series with a great cast, and it still has lots of promise.

Gotham - I know some folks here think this is a great show... but I am not one of them. I think it remains as confused/confusing as ever about things as basic as what kind of show it wants to be, and it has made a hopeless mess of the Batman/Gotham/Gordon backstory. However, it has great production values and some good actors, and I am too much of lifelong Bat-fan to stop watching!

The Flash - This was great in its first season, stumbled a bit in the second, and so far is still kind of a mess in the third. There's a lot to like though, and I hope it eventually gets back on track.

Supergirl - I was very impressed with the first season, and the second is off to a great start after moving from CBS to The CW. The show has solved its "Superman problem" - he existed in the series' continuity and was discussed by the characters, but he never really made a proper appearance, just showed up in text messages from Clark to Kara, or when he was actually shown, was totally lens-flared out so you couldn't see him. Anyway, now Tyler Hoechlin is playing Superman and showing up as a guest star at times... and he's PERFECT. Very much from the Christopher Reeve school of adorable simple goodness, though with the Clark goofiness tamped down a lot, and an even kinder, more relaxed Superman. A GREAT corrective to the pretentious, downbeat emo godling played by Henry Cavill in the Zack Snyder films!

In non-fantasy, I am really liking Better Things on FX. It's a lot like Louie (with which it shares much DNA and talent), but is less surreal and more focused on the difficulties of being a parent and child.

 

[Fading Fast]

Another funny / quirky Hollywood thing is that the female leads in "Timeless" and "Frequency" look very similar - as if some consultant or market research firm had identified the "right" look for a female time traveler today to be a woman in her late 20s / early 30s, brunette, cat-like eyes, small boned, angular features, with thinnish lips to show seriousness but a smile that can light up her face. It's really odd how similar looking the two leads are.

I bet that it was a consulting or marketing firm that not only sold the networks on a time travel show (doubt that is a coincidence) but what the female lead should look like. Everything is manipulated today.

 

[greatestescaper]

I really enjoyed the short lived Forever, and would have liked to have seen it develop beyond a first season. That said it's single season run is, I think, worth the watch through. I've not yet tried Timeless, though it is on my queue. The wife and I accidentally marathoned the final season of Penny Dreadful, and while I understand that it is probably for the best that it did end, there was certainly more for the series to explore. We're currently savoring the last few episodes of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, and are already wondering what it is we'll invest in next.

 

[MisterCairo]

This week's Gotham, great, gory fun!

 

[Stearmen]

I also watched Timeless. One big problem, I am having trouble hearing the three stars voices, they are just two soft! If I turn the volume up, the music and special effects are deafening. I will try one more time next week.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I plead guilty to turning on the close captioning in situations like that.

 

[Fading Fast]

I also watched Timeless. One big problem, I am having trouble hearing the three stars voices, they are just two soft! If I turn the volume up, the music and special effects are deafening. I will try one more time next week.

I think you've just described fifty percent of the shows on TV. We were so frustrated by it, that we bought a sound bar (not an inexpensive investment), which has helped a lot, but still, some shows seem to really, really blast the special effects.

Since we know they could mix the sound anyway they want, I'm convinced it is intentional as they want to force us to play the volume loud because that's how they want us to "experience" the show.

 

[Benzadmiral]

A later first-season episode of Trackdown from 1958, with Robert Culp. This one is a hostage story, really kind of modern: the villain threatens to shoot one hostage every 15 minutes unless Ranger Gilman walks into the jail to let himself be used as a getting-away hostage. The villain? Played by one DeForest Kelley. You completely forget his Dr. McCoy, kindly country-doctor characterization in this one.

 

[Zombie_61]

A later first-season episode of Trackdown from 1958, with Robert Culp...The villain? Played by one DeForest Kelley. You completely forget his Dr. McCoy, kindly country-doctor characterization in this one.

I've never seen any of them, but as I understand it playing villains in westerns was his "stock in trade" until Star Trek came along.

 

[Touchofevil]

The finale of Penny Dreadful. So good a show. One of the best I have ever watched. Wow! Sad that it is over.

 

[greatestescaper]

Finished Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Working on Longmire tonight.

 

[Stearmen]

NOVA: Super Tunnel. Wow, what an accomplishment!

 

[greatestescaper]

The finale of Penny Dreadful. So good a show. One of the best I have ever watched. Wow! Sad that it is over.

Spoiler: Thoughts after finishing Penny Dreadful...

How do you feel about it's ending? I really enjoyed it, and am glad how things were completed without the series jumping the shark. That said, I think I would have liked to have seen what happened after the dust cleared, and really, there were hints about Cairo and Imhotep that I would have liked to have seen developed further. In fact, I think that that would have made for an excellent season 4 plotline.

 

[belfastboy]

Just started watching "Turn" a series set during America's war of independence. Good cast, good acting and so far well scripted

 

[Benzadmiral]

I've never seen any of them, but as I understand it playing villains in westerns was his "stock in trade" until Star Trek came along.

It was, and I've seen a few others that Kelley did. But his villain in this one seemed to take actual delight in tormenting his victims. YOu can't usually get much characterization in a 30-min. TV episode, so actors have to suggest as best they can; and he did.