What was the last TV show you watched?

[MisterCairo]

it's hard to find an old-style "Friends" or "Cheers" type of show when you just want to veg-out in front of the TV and get a few laughs in without thinking too much about it.

If it is available to you (and I recall it was broadcast on an American network during its run 2004-2008), we are huge fans of Corner Gas.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Is anyone watching Dietland? Any women here? If so, would you care to comment? I'm confused about what it is trying to achieve. At times, I'm not even sure what it is trying to communicate. I tried watching the aftershow a couple times, but it doesn't help. I understand the anger and taking back power and creating confidence. Maybe I'll never get a show like this because I'm male. I'm trying though. I didn't start watching it for any other reason than I try to give AMC series a chance. I suspect there is a failing of some kind with it, and I say that because shows like Pose strike me as clear and successful in their message and commentary. That could also be because they have the luxury of working with a history. I don't know what I'm saying. Maybe that Dietland feels empty, while other series with strong social x, y, and z don't?

With the caveat that I haven't watched the show -- who has time? -- I've read quite a bit of the press about it, and have talked with some of the kids here who do watch it, and I think the best way to understand it is to pick up a stack of glossy drugstore womens' magazines: Glamour, Marie Claire, Cosmo, and such as that -- and imagine that all of the content is directed right at you, telling you on practically every page that there is something about you that is Not Quite Right -- you are not young enough, you are not thin enough, you are not stylish enough, you are not sexually satisfying your partner enough, and you are not bourgeois enough -- and that all that can be corrected if you simply buy the right product, follow the right regimen, consume the right merchandise, internalize the right image of yourself taking your proper place in consumer society. It's that whole culture of being constantly pressed toward "attaining the unattainable" that creates a constant low-grade sense of fear in women that they just aren't "enough" that this show is targeting. Marti Noxon may not be speaking everybody's language, but she knows exactly what she's saying to the people she is targeting.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

With the caveat that I haven't watched the show -- who has time? -- I've read quite a bit of the press about it, and have talked with some of the kids here who do watch it, and I think the best way to understand it is to pick up a stack of glossy drugstore womens' magazines: Glamour, Marie Claire, Cosmo, and such as that -- and imagine that all of the content is directed right at you, telling you on practically every page that there is something about you that is Not Quite Right -- you are not young enough, you are not thin enough, you are not stylish enough, you are not sexually satisfying your partner enough, and you are not bourgeois enough -- and that all that can be corrected if you simply buy the right product, follow the right regimen, consume the right merchandise, internalize the right image of yourself taking your proper place in consumer society. It's that whole culture of being constantly pressed toward "attaining the unattainable" that creates a constant low-grade sense of fear in women that they just aren't "enough" that this show is targeting. Marti Noxon may not be speaking everybody's language, but she knows exactly what she's saying to the people she is targeting.

Not to be at all flippant, but isn't that the core of marketing and sales in 2018? Since we're here about TV, isn't every commercial hinged on "nothing is ever enough"? Car commercials. Grooming products at both genders. In part (probably, in substantial part), isn't that why we live in a largely miserable culture, because nothing is every enough or satisfying because if you don't want more (or different), there's something wrong with you? Or in the workplace, if you aren't constantly striving for more and with an unhealthy sense of ambition, you're an undesirable employee? That delusion that you can have it all, and then have everything different tomorrow (HGTV)? I find it odd that I rarely ever see capitalism also blamed for this all-encompassing existential crisis. Is it too abstract? Don't get me wrong. Men deserve the lashings.

Our culture is incredibly unhealthy in how it pisses all over anyone trying to learn how to be in the moment. To fight all these messages of discontent, as most are rooted in being anything but in the moment.

I have always felt shows like Sex in the City preyed on women.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I agree with every word of this. I made a conscious decision a long time ago to drop as completely out of that whole mindset as I humanly could -- but there's still far too many people who haven't. Women are specifically targeted by a lot of it, but it's nonetheless a universal mindset in postwar capitalist society. Vance Packard pointed out the sinister aspects of this sixty years ago and was condemned as a crackpot pinko alarmist, but every damn thing he predicted came true.

I couldn't stand "Sex In The City" either, or any type of show or movie that boils womens' happiness down to the right job, the right sex partner, and the right pair of ugly, uncomfortable shoes. I'd like to impale the people who come up with such stuff right thru the neck with a sharpened Jimmy Choo.

 

[3fingers]

It's that whole culture of being constantly pressed toward "attaining the unattainable" that creates a constant low-grade sense of fear in women that they just aren't "enough"

It's not just women, though most men would never admit it.
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
Henry David Thoreau

 

[MisterCairo]

Series two of Blackadder, first two episodes. Episodes one and two as broadcast actually reversed the filming and story line. Hence, in episode "one" Lord Percy gets rid of his beard, while he has it "back" in episode "two", which was written and filmed to be episode one.

There you have it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's not just women, though most men would never admit it.
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
Henry David Thoreau

True indeed. That's the insidiousness of it -- admitting your unhappiness, unhappiness is a sign of weakness, weakness is a sign of "effeminacy," and that's the one thing the average brainwashed American man couldn't bear to seen as. So that unhappiness is repressed and it comes out in all kinds of violent, destructive tendencies. Whereas, if you believe the Boys, all we women have to do when we're depressed is eat a cup of yogurt or some chocolate, and rainbows and flowers will immediately fly out of our asses. Either way, we've all been hoodwinked.

That said, though, there are certain things that "Dietland" approaches that are specifically women's issues. Aging is one of them -- a fifty/sixty /seventy-something man can be a fat, greasy, bloat-faced, pig-eyed, spray-tanned, drooling old lecher with, say, a hideous combover, and still walk thru life believing he is *entitled* by dint of his supreme manliness to all the sexual favors he can grab. But a woman of the same age, unless she's dieted, excercised, tucked, stuffed, painted, and garnished herself exactly to the current specifications, is just a dried up, brittle-boned old bag. Women know this, and deep down, find it terrifying. To refer to another TV show of note, "The Handmaid's Tale," women are trained from childhood to be terrified of the day they'll be declared "un-women." And I think that same unspoken terror is what drives "Dietland."

 

[3fingers]

I have never heard of Dietland and while I have heard of Sex & the City, I have never watched it.
Doesn't sound like I've missed anything.

 

[Zombie_61]

I have never heard of Dietland and while I have heard of Sex & the City, I have never watched it.
Doesn't sound like I've missed anything.

I have, unfortunately, seen more episodes of Sex and The City than I ever wanted to simply because my wife liked the show. Unless you enjoy trite storylines and mostly shallow lead characters, don't bother with it.

 

[MisterCairo]

In Canada, the CBC has a great sketch comedy show called The Baronness von Sketch show, created and starring four women comics. Very much a female-centric show, but absolutely hilarious.

They put up their individual sketches on youtube. I think I have posted this info before, but just in case, it may not be to everyone's comedic taste. My personal favourites are the "red wine ladies", "book club" and "we're at the cottage!". They have a take on the recent Mad Max film, as well as a dig at the British Netflix series Happy Valley (``I'll put the kettle on``).

 

[Benzadmiral]

"Ballad for a Ghost," another Season Two entry for The Fugitive. Kimble is working as an odd-job man at a roadhouse. A big singing star, Hallie Martin (Janis Paige), is coming to perform and record an album. Small problem: She's the ex-wife of the owner (Mark Richman), who is still not over her. Bigger problem: Kimble needs to do a fast fade before all he's caught in the publicity about Miss Martin's appearance -- but she bears a striking resemblance to his late wife, and he can't bring himself to leave until he meets her. And she has a terrible secret of her own. . . .

This one is less about Kimble being a fugitive from the law, though the script does touch on it in the right places. The Hallie Martin character sings, probably why Paige was cast (she does a great job aside from vocalizing). The one song we see her perform reminds me a lot of Gale Garnett's pop/folk hit "We'll Sing in the Sunshine," which was out in fall 1964, not long before this episode was written.

Refreshing, too, that while Kimble and Hallie become friends, they do not become lovers. Now, that was not impossible to hint at in a drama series in '64. TV couldn't show a couple in bed, or climbing out of it -- heck, TV didn't show a married couple in the same bed until that year, with Bewitched -- but it could be in the subtext for grownups to pick up on. In an earlier episode from this season, it's implied Kimble has spent the night with a woman (Lois Nettleton). So it could be done. But in this story, there isn't room for that or need for it; and so Kimble and Hallie part as friends.

Not a spine-tingler of an episode with Gerard closing in on Kimble, but engrossing in its own way.

 

[Benzadmiral]

If it is available to you (and I recall it was broadcast on an American network during its run 2004-2008), we are huge fans of Corner Gas.

Corner Gas sort of reminded me of Cheers meets The Andy Griffith Show with a dose of Seinfeld. I didn't get any of the Canadian jokes, but that was okay, it was loony enough without that.

 

[MisterCairo]

Blackadder, series two, episode three "Potato", with guest star Sir Walter Raleigh being feted for his introduction* of the potato ("People are wearing them, building houses with them. They'll be eating them next..."), and Edmund trying to curry the Queen's favour by sailing the Cape of Good Hope. "Where are they now, Melchet"? "Oh, they're about at the urine drinking stage by this point, Majesty").

*Taken to Europe by the Spaniards first, though Raleigh perhaps introduced them to England. Regardless, we have chips to go along with our fish in any event...

 

[Zombie_61]

If it is available to you (and I recall it was broadcast on an American network during its run 2004-2008), we are huge fans of Corner Gas.

Before reading your post I had never heard of Corner Gas, but it was apparently so popular that they followed the series with a theatrical movie in 2014 and an animated version of the series earlier this year. I'll have to try to remember to look for it on Netflix; it sounds like the kind of show they would host.

Edit: No joy on Netflix. Bummer.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Edit: No joy on Netflix. Bummer.

I was disappointed by that too. Also, it's not on Amazon Prime Video. Most shows are usually on one or the other - Netflix or Amazon - this show seems to be available nowhere, which is very unusual in today's world.

 

[3fingers]

Look for Corner Gas on YouTube. There were at least some episodes on there. I used to watch it on PBS. I laughed a lot, wife rolled her eyes a lot.

 

[Fading Fast]

...That said, though, there are certain things that "Dietland" approaches that are specifically women's issues. Aging is one of them -- a fifty/sixty /seventy-something man can be a fat, greasy, bloat-faced, pig-eyed, spray-tanned, drooling old lecher with, say, a hideous combover, and still walk thru life believing he is *entitled* by dint of his supreme manliness to all the sexual favors he can grab. But a woman of the same age, unless she's dieted, excercised, tucked, stuffed, painted, and garnished herself exactly to the current specifications, is just a dried up, brittle-boned old bag. Women know this, and deep down, find it terrifying. To refer to another TV show of note, "The Handmaid's Tale," women are trained from childhood to be terrified of the day they'll be declared "un-women." And I think that same unspoken terror is what drives "Dietland."

Part of what creates all this ⇧ is that, for whatever reason, there are women - bright, attractive, successful women - who willingly date man ten, twenty, even thirty years older than they are. While that happens in reverse occasionally (with the President of France being a notable example), the overwhelming examples are of older men with younger women.

And this distorts the entire dating "marketplace." My girlfriend and I have two single female friends who are smart, attractive, engaging and, coincidently, who are both 49 and their dating stories are horrible. Men their age are dating women who are ten to twenty years younger and it's not all about money today as many of these relationships are between men and women with similar earnings / in similar jobs, but still, the women willingly date much older men.

It leaves middle-aged women (like our friends) with almost no one reasonable in their age bracket to date. I think that is part of what explains the imbalance you note in your post: the women are very concerned with looking young, but the men find it is not as important to their dating viability. I am not saying (1) this is right (but I am saying it exists) nor (2) that this is a full explanation (but I do think it's part of it).

 

[MisterCairo]

This is from the Wikipedia site:

Corner Gas episodes can now be watched on demand on The CTV Video Player at CTV.ca and thecomedynetwork.ca

Oft though, one cannot stream such things outside of the country of origin.

I know it was broadcast in the US on WGN America network, not sure if they still stream it or otherwise make it available.

 

[Fading Fast]

Finally watched the second part of the HBO documentary "Elvis Presley: The Searcher."

The first part covered Elvis' rise to stardom when he became, possibly, the biggest pop star ever (my comments on part one here: https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...-show-you-watched.21691/page-796#post-2413665).

The second part covers Elvis' life from his army days until his passing. And that is the perfect way to break his life into two as it highlights the central Elvis question (and Beatles question and Michael Jackson question) - is there a way to have a good second act / a good way to age professionally, publicly and privately after orbiting the moon early in your career?

Sinatra did it after a huge stumble - assuming one sees his early teen-idol moment on the scale of Elvis' - through grit, luck and outsized talent that combined his movie and music efforts into a long-and-successful, post-idol, career. But as highlighted, painfully, in the documentary, Elvis' movie career, which started with the promise of him developing into a real actor, quickly morphed into formula popcorn movies with - sadly - crummy songs that sold well but overall (what's the word) suck.

After more than half a decade of that nonsense, Elvis relaunched his music career with the successful and still-engaging "'68 Comeback Special" that, again, showed promise, but was followed up with uneven material, confused strategy (his manager Col. Parker had his own selfish motives for that) and inconsistent effort by Elvis as increasing drug use took a heavy toll.

I mention Sinatra as he rebuilt his career by smart strategy, force of will and a deep reservoir of talent. He pushed hard for good movie rolls and was incredibly involved in choosing and tweaking his music (which, like Elvis, he didn't write) as he knew what would work for him. What you see with Sinatra is a man aggressively involved in driving his career with deep insight into how he could make a song and album right for himself (and his fans).

And that's what Elvis didn't have for his second act. He let his movie career become fluff. Blame others, but Elvis - had he been smart, focussed and passionate - could have forced real acting opportunities out of Hollywood, but he didn't. And the same happened with his post-movie music - it's much better than his movies, but still the quality and effort are inconsistent as he didn't "Sinatra" his career.

Where part one of the HBO documentary is all sunlight and glory; the second part is all lost opportunity amidst a long, sad fade. For those who aren't familiar with the Elvis story, the four hours combined are a good overview of his life; for those who know his story well, it's a solid review but not one that adds much to the already known story.

 

[Touchofevil]

A couple of episodes of The Crown.