Television has become very mediocre

Well, we can tell from the way you wrote this mess that you are not a writer.

Julia on HBO Max is quite entertaining. Minx is fun, but the writing could be a bit sharper and the mix of real dongs and obvious prosthetics is perplexing and distracting. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's fourth season was stellar.

R1 Well, I clearly pissed off a Hawkeye writer.

[quote] Julia on HBO Max is quite entertaining

But the flamingly nellie maiden aunt prisspots of DL have determined we are not allowed to like it, because it's not a documentary and some of it is - GASP - fictionalized.

OP = Leonard Pinth-Garnell's poorer cousin.

I like Ghost and Home Economics. The rich brother on HE is really hot. He should have his own thread.

Some more interesting off-the-beaten-path shows for the discerning OP:

Severance

Borgen (subtitles)

It’s a Sin!

Call My Agent! (subtitles)

[quote]Well, I clearly pissed off a Hawkeye writer.

Aw. You tried.

So did you, bless. It's a shame when a poor troll can't muster the energy.

TV content and viewing practices are so diffuse and spread out now. Looks like every streaming service is creating original content now. Plus everything in TV history available all the time whenever you want to see it makes people less likely to seek out new stuff. There's good stuff out there just not getting seen because most people don't know it's there. Doubt we'll see any more monster hits like Game of Thrones or Sopranos that everybody watched and talked about. Now just mini-hits.

[quote]everything in TV history available all the time whenever you want to see it

Not "Homicide: Life on the Street"

Not "I'll Fly Away"

Not "A Year in the Life"

Not "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd"

[quote]The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's fourth season was stellar.

Opinions vary.

I love the shows Atlanta, On My Block, and Ozark. Great tv

Yellowjackets!

Ted Lasso

Insecure

Master of None

I wouldn't trade the options for television today for pre-2000 network TV.

Exactly

Succession

Severance

R11 I love you for the Molly Dodd reference

The Walking Dead

Abbott Elementary

Jack Reacher

I think it's become like art in the Soviet Bloc -- you have to demonstrate fealty to the prevailing woke ideology, and that comes at a cost of telling the blunt truth of the human experience. Too many things you can't say and too many things you are required to say.

I steer clear and stick mostly to things that were made in 2015 or earlier.

Evil

I'm sure there's a kicky little Leni Riefenstahl movie for you somewhere, Defucto.

Gosh, I couldn't disagree more.

The Golden Age might be over. But there's so much interesting stuff on the air. Wading through the muck to get to the gems is the most challenging part:

Dickinson, Physical, Julia, Ozark, Mare of Easttown, The Queen's Gambit, WeCrashed are some pretty fantastic recent shows. And that's just off the top of my head.

I disagree, too.

There's:

The Righteous Gemstones

My Brilliant Friend

The White Lotus

Somebody, Somewhere

Gentleman Jack

War of the Worlds

And Curb Your Enthusiasm is still on

[quote]Television has become very mediocre

Oh, really?

Have you seen, "Call Me Kat"?

r4 they're not flaming nellie prisspots, just intelligent people who think showboating contemporary narratives into an historical project is lazy, shallow and hackish.

I remember when Sunday nights were the best. The Sopranos followed by Six Feet Under and lastly QAF.

R2- Minx is NOT fun. It stinks and it's just a ripoff of that other HBO porno industry show set in ca. 1971 The Deuce.

Except the Minx's productions values are far worse than The Deuce.

[quote]Television has become very mediocre

Television has been mediocre for decades. A few good shows here and there were sprinkled atop a steaming pile of stupid shit.

I knew I had a good reason to not own a television.

No OP you're mediocre.

I am watching Tokyo Vice on HOB max right now, it's so good! Produced by Michael Mann.

I also watching Slow Horses with Gary Oldman

Television is fine, it's just that the landscape of old networks and channels and season schedules and series that went on and on and on for 15- or 20-odd years have changed. In that change a certain segment of the old audience is left in the dark, their lifetime TV Guide subscriptions no help at all.

You see it all the time here on DL, the nostalgia for shit series, for bad actors, for being handed a limited menu and being told that you will enjoy whatever you order. They are the ones with the huge DVD collections and boxes of tapes if fucking WKRP in Cincinnati or Taxi or that Bloodworth-Thompson treacle. The idea that a series has a fewer episodes than a man has fingers and runs just one or two seasons puts them off. They miss crappy old LA Law because that was from a time when their sex jeans still fit and they still smoked and still got laid when they went to a gay bar. It's nostalgia and confusion/resistance if the new fangled. They puzzle that Ted Danson is in none of the fare on Netflix, surely this passing fad is doomed?

Well, I think there is simply a vastly wider selection than there was 15 years ago. Sometimes it seems there are hundred tv shows being greenlit weekly. So as a result there are more stinkers out there. I don't see anything quite as brilliant as The Sopranos nowadays, but I would say the lowest point for t.v. was actually the late 80s.

There were lots of good shows in the olden days. Dexter, True Blood, Game of thrones, Berlin station etc.

Nothing great on cable anymore.

yes, I enjoyed The Sopranos very much!

For R11 -- I loved that show! Back when SJP was still young and cute...

Remember the golden age of crime procedurals like CSI and NCIS, where 20+ million viewers in America tuned in weekly (that's 1 in 10 or fewer people, across all age ranges 15-85)? Anyway, NCIS is still going on now, and was just renewed another season through May 2023 at least.

It's a little dated, but I enjoy it because Gary Cole is the new show lead. He aged beautifully.

The new season of Atlanta is very good.

yes, please recommend more good shows for us to watch. TIA

Pachinko. I love it so far (6 episodes in).

[quote] "I love the shows Atlanta, On My Block, and Ozark. Great tv"

I would watch Jason Bateman in practically anything. Fuck me he's hot, and a very good actor. Everyone on "Ozark" is excellent.

I haven't started anything new, but have been told (especially as a costumer) that I'll love "Maisel". I'll probably give it a look soon-ish. But nothing seems to really grab my attention anymore. Lately, I've been devouring all of the documentaries on Shudder, and re-watching "Mary Tyler Moore" & "Phyllis" episodes someone uploaded to Youtube. I should be making better use of my streaming services, or rid myself of them. I watch them, but not as much as I feel I probably should (I'm just too busy with work).

At least on Netflix it is. They have the occasional good show or junk food binge, but most of their stuff is absolute shit. The only thing that seems to interest me is their true crime. This is a good reminder that I need to cancel them today. They won't allow it on the app, so I have to go online. When there are a few things out at once I want to binge I'll pick it back up.

True r48. Netflix has something that interests me once or twice every few months, but the rest of the time I have no interest in what they offer.

I tried The Righteous Gemstones because I found Skyler Gisondo so attractive in the "That hot actor in that one TV show" thread, but it sucked so bad I couldn't watch it. I watched half of each of the first two episodes. Thanks to whoever posted his shirtless poses, but this show just doesn't make it. I'm tired, perhaps, of Xtreme Xtian parodies.

Better Call Saul is back tomorrow April 18

Grace and Frankie April 29

Hacks May 12

The Good Fight late 2022

Julia Roberts as Martha Mitchell in Gaslit April 24

R38 is a total bitch. But I tend to agree.

Granted, there may be fewer of those "game changing" shows like The Sopranos or Mad Men when they aired, but the sheer number of shows and the money that's now in streaming TV production is staggering. Which means you'll get more of the middling and mediocre fare as well. On the other hand, we now have access to international TV production that we didn't even have 10 years ago. I'm amazed at the sheer number of great shows coming from very unexpected places (Israel, Belgium, Korea, just to name a few) in addition to the usual stalwarts (the UK, Nordic countries).

In the past year or two, I have enjoyed: Ozark, Better Call Saul, Hacks, White Lotus, The Mare of Easttown, Homecoming, The Chair, Chernobyl, new seasons of CYE, Fleabag, Line of Duty, It's a Sin, Years and Years, just to name a few off the top of my head, in addition to Losing Alice (Israel), Hit and Run (Israel), Tehran (Israel), Beau Sejour (Belgium), Squid Game (Korea), Call My Agent (France), Mystery Road (Australia), The Gulf (New Zealand), etc, all on various streaming services. Not to mention things that are from 5-10 years ago (Borgen, The Bridge/Broen, and such)

Sure, some shows becomes a hit on Netflix and then you have a glut of other mediocre copycats (the whole current genre of sort-of-true crime series based on recent events, like Anna Delvey, Joe vs Carole, WeWork fiasco, the girl who goaded her boyfriend into suicide, that Renee Z show...) but scripted TV is better than it's ever been.

LOL r38! You are so right. I'm always amazed and also saddened at the eldsters on here who rhapsodize over some shit series from decades ago and still watch marathons of it. I mean JFC get a life! I don't know how anyone could sit in front of a tv and watch hours and hours of something like The Love Boat or any of the other bullshit Aaron Spelling shows or what have you from 40 years ago. It's depressing to even read about on this forum.

What would twats like you have to bitch about without the sad eldergays, R55?

R43 CSI was so revolting, I never understood why people loved it. And I also didn't get why Marg Helgenburgers character was always smirking.

R38 What a load of rubbish. No one here has sex jeans. We have sex LEGGINGS with elastic waists.

[quote] I'm always amazed and also saddened at the eldsters on here who rhapsodize over some shit series from decades ago and still watch marathons of it.

But like people won't be reminiscing over mediocre TV shows in 20 years? I already saw a small glimpse of that after Bob Saget died and everybody loved that awful Full House again.

I find that we've lost a connection that TV once gave us. In a way, it's sad though not bad.

I'm old enough to remember the days when you'd get to work and everyone would be all about an episode of TV that occurred the night before, or where everyone was excited about the next upcoming episode of some show.

Now, getting together with friends, we're all recommending one show. or another to each other, and none of us is really interested because we've got our own shows that we each love.

Oh, honey. The golden age of television ended back in 2000 when Survivor and Big Brother took off. Everything became reality TV after that.

I used to love Wednesday nights: "Batman", "The Patty Duke Show", "Gidget", "Green Acres ", "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "The Danny Kaye Show".

R59 Don't forget, everyone is now pretending that he was " America's Dad". A title that didn't even exist until he died and someone on Twitter came up with the phrase.

R54, I watched most of those shows you mentioned too! very cool choices!

yes, the access to the variety and number of shows is amazing. I am enjoying many shows from foreign countries.

Money Heist, Feria, Dark, Bad Banks, The Rook, Lupin, young royals, Kin, archive 81, squid game just to name a few

Slow Horses is great. Gary Oldman is wonderful as always and it has the delicious Jack Lowden

[quote] Television has become very mediocre

Don't say mediocre. Our teen porn shows are of the highest quality

OUR teen porn shows are better. And we have ZENDAYA! All the kids (and their dads) LOVE her!

Bring back Derek, r67.

This conversation cannot be taken seriously.

Most DL posters are caftan clad agony aunts who have not experienced an orgasm or a new piece of music, film, TV or art since the early 90s.

You’re on DL, r69, so I guess that describes you?

The early 90s does seem to be the cutoff date for eldergays. As soon as Designing Women went off the air they were done with pop culture and the world in general.

That’s sad

R57, I never understood people’s fascination with “crime procedurals” at all. Much like with horror films and shows like Squid Game, why would anybody want to fill their minds with that sort of thing? I think R61 is on the money as well.

The thing about older TV is if you hated Archie Bunker, for example, you hated a character.

Now if you watch a reality show, there is no distance - people are hating that person. Or the person they show on screen, anyway.

I do not watch reality shows. They are shit and not real. Do not lower your standards!

[quote]I wouldn't trade the options for television today for pre-2000 network TV.

Pre-2000s network tv shows look so dated now. Streaming and cable have upped the stakes considerably with no ridiculous censorship and stories that are much more like the reality of the modern world.

How many "streaming services" are there now - forty? Add it up, proles...you're paying a fortune every fucking month (conveniently on "auto pay!") to watch "exclusive" content, most of which is not worth wiping your ass with. It's a scam!!

Well r77 it beats watching network shows