Thursday, February 28, 2013

TV Show Rant

I have been watching a lot of TV lately.  Well to be honest, I have been watching a lot of TV all my life and now I just watch even more than that. With a lot of TV, I have a lot of observations and complaints. Below are just a few.

I'm not used to watching a show where I'm rooting for the main character to die.  But on "Revolution" I am because I can't stand Charlie.  I feel like her acting is just so horrible.  She's too entitled and I just perceive her as an idiot when she's talking about what she wants to do.  She doesn't have a sense of urgency or maybe she does at the wrong times. During every episode you can hear me telling Dave multiple times how much I hate her. (It's been awhile since I was watching this or I'd probably have even more to say.) Do you watch Revolution? What do you think of Charlie?
source
I've been watching a lot of the 30 minute comedy shows recently and since they are on Netflix or I recorded them, I see a lot right in a row.  I have noticed that quite a few of these show episodes out of order. I guess it doesn't have to be limited to the half hour comedies but those ones aren't as much entirely based on previous episodes so they feel like they can get away with it.

On Samantha Who a character is engaged then in a future episode they are just dating.  I think on New Girl it was when a couple started dating then they had an episode where they weren't dating.  Since I started thinking about episodes out of order, I believe many other shows have done it. It usually happens when there is a holiday episode that has to be played earlier than they planned I guess to have it air close to the real holiday.  On Fridge a character dies, then in a later episode he's alive. This was a few years ago but is another example. Can you think of other examples where they show episodes out of order?
Some shows are really great in the beginning but as the seasons go on, they just get too over the top. I noticed this with Desperate Housewives and didn't even make it through the last 1.5 seasons fo the show. (I still might watch them eventually.)  Are there any other shows that got too over the top so you stopped watching them or at least that you started to like them less?

In general, I can't stand the last 10 minutes of Undercover Boss.  When the boss is actually undercover it isn't so bad, but I cannot stand where the boss talks to the employees that he worked with.  I hate how just a couple employees ended up working with the boss and then they end up getting $20,000 for school or a house or $50,000 or once even $250,000 to buy a house. Very rarely are changes ever made that improve the business. If the boss had a parent recently die of cancer, he seems to work with an employee who recently had a family member die of cancer so then they bond over that and some sort of money is given to the employee because of it. I just can't handle the last 10 minutes.  I would much rather see everyone get a 10 cent raise over 1 person who just happened to be picked for the stupid show to get something.  Then half the time the employees thank God and talk about how God did this nice thing to them but it's the stupid show. I really think Dave likes Undercover Boss so much because he likes how I get all riled up. What do you think of Undercover Boss?
Shows in general having "previously on" and having parts of that not actually be in previous episodes (probably from when episode was too long and they cut it down). The most recent example I have is of Parenthood but I've noticed other examples over the years.  When you watch shows back to back it is easier to notice these things.  If you have to wait an entire week or longer, it'd be harder to pick up on it.
I do like how in the first 30 seconds of Glee you can hear the entire summary of the last episode. I feel like they never even miss anything in that summary.  Granted lately, I've been having trouble just getting through each episode of Glee. The show was much better a few years ago.

6 comments:

  1. You will probably be interested in this. It explains why tv sit coms get aired out of order. It used to be there wasn't even an order. Full House didn't have one. http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/01/23/don_t_trust_the_b_in_apt_23_canceled_after_episodes_were_aired_out_of_order.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oi I noticed that about Mindy Project too but forgot to mention it. Mainly because I wrote most of this post in October.

      Here I thought they played them out of order because they messed up planning and certain holiday episodes fell too early or too late so they tried to move them. I didn't realize sinking rankings.

      Delete
  2. I quit shows for going over the top before you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Like what?
      You wanted to quit Desperate Housewives and I didn't but then I did quit it. I think I wanted to quit Heroes before you.

      Delete
  3. LOL, Dave was calling out shows for 'jumping the shark' before it was cool. Good call.

    Great call as well, Colleen, on the Glee summaries - they super effective.

    I saw you had a New Girl photo up, but no discussion...are you a fan or just debating? It's one of my favorites. Happy Endings is also another great thirty minute comedy to watch. I also like Archer and Workaholics, though they are probably less in your wheelhouse.

    White Collar is excellent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I guess I didn't specifically mention it. I thought I had. New Girl also showed episodes out of order. A couple was dating then not then was again (I think).

      I haven't watched Happy Endings. Too bad it's not on Netflix streaming. Workaholics is on Netflix streaming so I'll give that a try soon.

      I have a draft post started like a continuation of this one and I talk about how awesome White Collar is in that post. I actually had to scroll up to see if it was in this post since you mentioned it.

      Delete