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Are Movies and TV Shows Boring Today?

OldFatGuy said:
Someone once said "90% of art is drek, but oh, that 10%."

TV, with cable, satellite and now streaming, compounds the problem. The vast expansion of the media available gobbles up content, repeats it endlessly, and demands more. Not even total stoners want to watch a movie on cable called "Attack of the Killer Donuts." Our tastes have become increasingly more sophisticated despite reality Housewife shows.

Movies aren't much better, perhaps worse because cable and streaming are on the horizon, a short one, for distribution. CGI becomes more important than good story telling.

Then again, there is the occasional gem, and if you're will to sift through the fluff, maybe you find the toy in the cereal box. The one that doesn't fall into a formula you are already well acquainted.
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I remember when we first got cable TV I was 11 years old. I could leave WPIX from NYC on TV in Pennsylvania all day and be totally entertained by reruns of the Odd Couple and what not. What I hate about TV now is that stations air one show for all of primetime if not a 24 hour block.
 
Hondo said:
I'm in the process of checking out of life. Before, I was always on the go. Now, I can't get out and just wanted to be entertained on my way into Corpseville. Old movies will have to do.
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Well, if you've seen them 100 times you probably won't miss much if you doze off in the middle of em ;)

There was a time when I couldn't get enough TV and movies. Now I am sort of over it. We used to have a pretty good stream on summer blockbusters. Now that are just all the same old superhero special effects driven garbage every summer. I will binge on the British police dramas on PBS when there are new ones to be seen, but that is about all on TV I look forward to. There are a few reality shows I DVR just out of habit more than anything else like Top Chef. Maybe once or twice a week I will watch something on Link TV. I used to love Charlie Rose and had since I was a kid, but once he was Me Too'd, that was sort of the last regular thing I made an effort to see.

Anyway, don't be in too much of a hurry to get your front row seat to Corpseville. Take a walk every now and then, even if it is a short one.
 
Drawdown said:
Well, if you've seen them 100 times you probably won't miss much if you doze off in the middle of em ;)

There was a time when I couldn't get enough TV and movies. Now I am sort of over it. We used to have a pretty good stream on summer blockbusters. Now that are just all the same old superhero special effects driven garbage every summer. I will binge on the British police dramas on PBS when there are new ones to be seen, but that is about all on TV I look forward to. There are a few reality shows I DVR just out of habit more than anything else like Top Chef. Maybe once or twice a week I will watch something on Link TV. I used to love Charlie Rose and had since I was a kid, but once he was Me Too'd, that was sort of the last regular thing I made an effort to see.

Anyway, don't be in too much of a hurry to get your front row seat to Corpseville. Take a walk every now and then, even if it is a short one.
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That's what I can't do. I'm dizzy constantly and can't process the outside world. Been spinning and swaying for a year since getting decompression sickness. I got bent right off the dock of a hospital in the St. Lawrence River diving a wreck in 90 feet of water. The day before, I had been teaching an advanced trimix class on a wreck in 250 feet of water. I went right into the hospital. All they had to do was stick me on 100% oxygen and get me to the recompression chamber 90 minutes down the road in Syracuse. Instead, they used a nasal cannula reducing the oxygen to about 30%, wouldn't listen to me as the international training director for a certification agency and diving emergency medical technician, that I needed an oxygen mask. They wouldn't call a physician at the Divers Alert Network, and they finally got me to a chamber 7 hours later. By then, it was too late. Multiple chamber rides failed to fix the damage. Now, I'm in bed all of the time and walking is like being drunk, I guess? I never was, but I had a concussion from being struck by a car as a pedestrian and that was nothing to how I feel now. Sucks. I am, unfortunately, most earnestly ready to check out.
 
Hondo said:
That's what I can't do. I'm dizzy constantly and can't process the outside world. Been spinning and swaying for a year since getting decompression sickness. I got bent right off the dock of a hospital in the St. Lawrence River diving a wreck in 90 feet of water. The day before, I had been teaching an advanced trimix class on a wreck in 250 feet of water. I went right into the hospital. All they had to do was stick me on 100% oxygen and get me to the recompression chamber 90 minutes down the road in Syracuse. Instead, they used a nasal cannula reducing the oxygen to about 30%, wouldn't listen to me as the international training director for a certification agency and diving emergency medical technician, that I needed an oxygen mask. They wouldn't call a physician at the Divers Alert Network, and they finally got me to a chamber 7 hours later. By then, it was too late. Multiple chamber rides failed to fix the damage. Now, I'm in bed all of the time and walking is like being drunk, I guess? I never was, but I had a concussion from being struck by a car as a pedestrian and that was nothing to how I feel now. Sucks. I am, unfortunately, most earnestly ready to check out.
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Get on the web and ask around. You never know. There may be someone out there who can try something new. Best of luck to you
 
Mycroft said:
I like a lot of the adaptations of Stephen King's novels, which are still being made. I have high hopes for upcoming "The Long Walk".
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They are seriously doing The Long Walk?
 
beancounter said:
I agree with the OP. Most TV shows today don't capture my interest.

And I can't understand the popularity and appeal of "reality shows" which are obviously scripted, and deal with shallow people and shallow subjects.
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I have a neighbor who is addicted to Pawn Stars. First she had a crush on the old man. Now she's convinced her junk is worth a fortune.
 
OldFatGuy said:
I have a neighbor who is addicted to Pawn Stars. First she had a crush on the old man. Now she's convinced her junk is worth a fortune.
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LOL! My mother thinks her junk is priceless as well from that show and Antiques Roadshow. You can get good deals on junk though. I was in the reality show Auction Packed on Nat Geo in an episode where a dive shop was going out of business. I bought a box of old double hosed regulators for $25 and sold them for $4000 to a guy who rebuilds them and sells them as working regs to the divers who belong to the National Vintage Equipment Divers association. I love Pawn Stars. Rick and I are the same age and his personal interests really take me back to the childhood interest in music, cars, vans, pop culture, etc.
 
~ I watch old movies and vintage TV shows. Just watched an episode of Route 66 . Good story. I like the old Perry Mason series.
 
LosAngelesAngel said:
~ I watch old movies and vintage TV shows. Just watched an episode of Route 66 . Good story. I like the old Perry Mason series.
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My girlfriend's dad was working at the Soviet Embassy in D.C. in the 50's when he decided to become an American. Route 66 inspired my girlfriend's parents to travel the entire route. I miss shows like Perry Mason where they focused on the trial and the mystery rather than trying to turn every show into a soap opera-like look into everyone's personal lives. We got to know a character little by little and shows didn't delve too much into personal lives or demons. I liked both those shows very much.
 
Hondo said:
Something is missing from movies today. I find myself streaming the latest films on Netflix only to pause and try my hand at killing zombies in Call of Duty or even participate on this board. They lose my attention somehow. I struggle through just to see how my invested time turns out. Then, I'll go to Rotten Tomatoes to check the audience and critic score and read a few critic and audience reviews. I'm often surprised by how well something scored that I thought was boring or not well-made.

Conversely, I'll find myself totally drawn-in by films made from the 1940's through the 1990's and only pause to get a snack once the film has sucked me in for the ride. There are films today that capture my attention for sure. The John Wick series is awesome action entertainment. The Conjuring was a good horror movie. I couldn't think of a drama so I just Googled "best drama movies" for 2018, 2017, 2016 and I could only find a few that I thought were something I'd probably watch again such as The Post, Hidden Figures, and The Revenant.

But, if I Google best dramas for 1968, the year I was born, for example, Rosemary's Baby, Planet of the Apes, The Lion in Winter, Where Eagles Dare, Franco Zifferelli's Romeo and Juliet, If..., Funny Girl, Bullitt, Oliver!, The Thomas Crown Affair, Coogan's Bluff, Hell in the Pacific are some many people love and watch over and over again. While not my cup of tea, movies like Charly, Faces, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter are far better than most indies and movies with similar themes today in my opinion.

I just watched Head Count. I found it more watchable than most modern horror, but not even as entertaining as half the low budget horror movies of the 70's and 80's. I posted a video of the actors from 1976's Raid on Entebbe singing Hine Ma Tov and got sucked into the film. I then watched 7 Days in Entebbe from 2018. 7 Days was great from the terrorist perspective, but did a terrible job with the tension within Rabin's cabinet, planning for the raid, and the worst part, juxtaposed modern dance with the Israeli rescue mission cutting back and forth between scenes. I thought the dance and music were cool, but should have been edited into the film differently. The raid was anti-climatic, when the real on the ground mission, was fraught with complications.

The same goes for TV shows. So many good shows were aired in the 50's to 90's. Today, I find most boring. Last Man Standing, Law & Order: SVU, All-American and Proven Innocent (canceled) are some I like, but SVU isn't as good at the original Law & Order. The Code was certainly not as good as JAG!

I grew up a film and TV junkie and was involved in a few reality TV shows. Three friends and I were the cast of Ghost Town Divers which the History channel canceled at the last minute. People who watched the sizzle couldn't believe our show was canceled without trying the pilot. It was about 3 cave divers and a historian adventuring into unusual treasure hunts such as trying to locate stolen military weapons used by the mafia hidden in a CT quarry, find the wreck of the space capsule from The Planet of the Apes in AZ, explore sunken towns, etc. We actually could produce results instead of looking at the same hole in the ground for several seasons.

I can't figure out why we have so many boring TV shows and films. Is it just me and my personal tastes? Or, is something missing from movies and TV today? What do you think I'm either not getting or what is Hollywood not getting right?
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As I write this I'm binge-watching the Thundercats reboot, I have this forum and FB open, and I'm playing 2 different mobile games on different smartphones.
 
Hondo said:
My girlfriend's dad was working at the Soviet Embassy in D.C. in the 50's when he decided to become an American. Route 66 inspired my girlfriend's parents to travel the entire route. I miss shows like Perry Mason where they focused on the trial and the mystery rather than trying to turn every show into a soap opera-like look into everyone's personal lives. We got to know a character little by little and shows didn't delve too much into personal lives or demons. I liked both those shows very much.
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~ I think the writing and storyline of old TV shows & movies is excellent. I can't even watch new stuff . It seems to dumb down the audience.
 
LosAngelesAngel said:
~ I think the writing and storyline of old TV shows & movies is excellent. I can't even watch new stuff . It seems to dumb down the audience.
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Yes and no.

Old TV shows and movies were often racist as hell and sexist. However it reflected the audience and the times. The stories were original because they were the first to be put on TV. I mean to be Frank, what is the real difference between lets say Streets of San Francisco and SUV of today?

The problem with today is money. To make money the movie and TV producers stick to what they know will make money and rarely venture into the unknown. That is why we are seeing remake after remake on movies and even TV shows and long living movie franchises like the super hero ones.

As for the "dumb down the audience", I agree. My pet peive is how stupid some of my favourite TV shows are turning into. When X character travels from LA to Iran in what feels like a few hours, or some agent running around Belgrade with a gun shouting "freeze FBI"...I mean come on, do Americans really belive that thier police force can run around London or Tokyo armed and arrest people?

The problem boils down to greed and the need to make quick profit.

Sent from my JSN-L21 using Tapatalk
 
TheGoverness said:
That's one of my main current criticisms of Hollywood: it's continuing to remake things that don't need to be remade. Like, Disney's got this new crazy with remaking all of their animated classics into live action. Unfortunately, a bunch of people go to see it, which is only encouraging it even more.
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Yeah but they hire really hot actors, so...it makes it worth it.

Add humor and action and bingo! I dont pay to see them in the movies but they're fun at home when available.
 
I think Hollywood has chosen to be too safe, both for the money as was pointed out, and out of fear of offending. There was a time when censors didn't allow the clergy to be portrayed in a bad light. Now, they are about the only group you can. That's an exaggeration, of course, but characters have become less interesting because they have to be shown in ways that break stereotypes. The less Hollywood gets to utilize true diversity in characters, the less opportunity for us to see great acting, unique characters, and true art.
 
Hondo said:
I don't know if things have changed in reality TV, but in the business it was called, "unscripted TV" to get around the writers. It might be scripted today, but back when I was a diver for some documentaries and when we did our TV show, the producers would film us for 20 minutes planning a dive talking naturally. They'd pick up on a few things we said that they'd want us to repeat. Then, tell us to do the dive plan in 5 minutes. Then in 2 minutes. We never were handed a script at the time. What wasn't real was the depths we'd dive (often just a few feet deep), emergencies that occurred were staged, etc. Everything was fake, but secondary camera work like actually filming the real dive site and the dialogue. The most real thing had been the dialogue, but by the time you make the same joke you came up with out of the blue for the 10th time it sounds scripted coming from a real person instead of an actor. We sometimes had to do voice overs when the audio was crappy. Some things you say are taken out of context and you sound like an arrogant jerk.

Here's our trailer if you are interested. I'm the guy who sounds like a stoner and I did most of the filming.

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That looks like a real interesting show, it's too bad it didn't get picked up. On another note, I had a dream of finding someone here who was involved in a reality TV show and my dream has come true!
 
Hondo said:
Oh, you are so right! WWII German and American propaganda films are more subtle that what we see today. I loathe politics in everything. I just watched the entire season of the CW's Two Sentence Horror and the propaganda was evident.

Also, you can look at the diversity of the cast and just know what the characters will represent. White guy bad, black guy savior, female empowered, Asian guy smart, etc. "Oh, a white guy is the boss? He's going to be a corrupt traitor." It's the modern equivalent of, "The Butler did it!"
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Did you notice that every series has to have at least one gay couple and at least one interracial couple?

Every time a new series comes on my friend and i wait for those to be revealed. It doesn't take much time usually.
 
LosAngelesAngel said:
~ I watch old movies and vintage TV shows. Just watched an episode of Route 66 . Good story. I like the old Perry Mason series.
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There is a You Tube channel that has all of the old Highway Patrol episodes with Brodrick Crawford. It is neat to see what the valley and Los Angeles looked like in 1956 to 1959.
 
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