Television Programs Thread

[Zainub]

Are you addicted to any particular tv shows? We have had seperate threads on a few programs earlier so I thought it would be a good idea to start a more general one here.

Please used this thread to discuss anything telly...feel free to log your soap addictions or your tell us if you cried or not when your all time favorite sitcom had it's last episode ...or alternatively if you're not a TV person altogether.

Personally I'm very chosy in what kind of things I watch. Soap is totally not on my menu, I'd rather watch WWF then something ridiculous like B&B or KSBKBT. I'm all for humor though. When I am not watching sports I am either going to be watching BBC Food or Paramount Comedy Channel. Don't mind reality tv either. And yes, I can still watch Tom and Jerry. Cartoon Network is my go-to option when I'm totally freaked out. But sometimes I have to do it out of neccesity , like when yesterday while I was baby sitting some smaller cousins and nephews...I watched 3 hours non-stop of Nickeledon, followed by Jack the Builder and some Sesme Street to finish it all in the end.And yes, I also like my news. I don't have any time for FOX and only slightly for CNN. I am a Click Online die hard and generally prone towards excessive BBC usage. Though sometimes I shift to sky just for a change. Locally I like watching Geo. Although sometimes they completely make me lose my ciruit as well.

[Pete]

I shamefully admit that I find Two Pints of Lager quite funny at times I try and watch the repeats of Sex and the City when they're on too.

[Mongoose]

I watch as much sport as I can, and I love a good comedy - the proper British stuff like Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and newer stuff like Spaced. None of the trashy, 'you-can-see-the-joke-coming-a-mile-off-but-I'm-going-to-tell-it-anyway' American stuff for me. Friends is hugely over-rated.

I'm a real junkie for history programmes. I loved the series about Carthage on C4 last year, and I will lap up anything about the Romans. Lemming also often finds himself watching these history programmes, despite maintaining that most of it is conjecture and there's ample scope for a historian to bulls**t his way through a programme.

PS. Lemming, and my other housemates, have all moved out, so I'm on my own for the last month of our tenancy :-(

By the way, love the bouncing white blob thingy, Zainub.

[Rachael]

I've always thought of an addiction as a clinically diagnosable condition that needed treatment.. and of an addition to anything on TV as a particularly sad variant... but I don't think the tradition of public service broadcasting is quite dead yet and BBC4 in particular seems to be unafraid to tackle things as if it credits the audience with wanting to be educated rather than entertained.

Despite having been much taken with all sorts from "Yes Minister" to Dave Allen and beyond I still maintain TV is at it's best for news and sport coverage / analysis rather than for drama... and doubt that the world would be any the worse if all soaps, sitcoms and so-called "comedy" were just axed overnight.... but quite passable things like "Rich Hall's Fishing Show" and "House" do seem to slip in between completely irredeemable stuff like the obnoxious **** playing the idiot on Channel 4 last night....

[Lemming]

Originally Posted by Mongoose

Lemming also often finds himself watching these history programmes, despite maintaining that most of it is conjecture and there's ample scope for a historian to bulls**t his way through a programme.

I watch history programmes because I want to I want to be told a fabricated story, I find history programmes interesting but view them with the proverbial pinch of salt. As a mathematician I like to see proof before I believe anything and hearing some wierd idiot with a Ph.D saying "We can assume that..." and "It is common opinion that...", I ain't fooled. They take f$*k all evidence and make something interesting out of it. (Of course I am referring to more "ancient" history, rather than modern which obviously can provide more evidence.) They look for what they want to and assume what they want!

A good example is some program about who killed Tutankhamun. It lasted an hour and there were 5/6 suspects including his wife. These so called experts completely ruled his wife out of his murder! How? They had one painting showing her smiling at him and they concluded "She was obviously too much in love with him!" Can you believe that? On that evidence how many people would get away with murdering their spouse, as their lawyer holds up a picture of their wedding in court? "Just look at how happy she was on their wedding day! How could she murder him?" If it's good enough for Tutankhamun's wife, surely it's good enough for Mrs. X from some trailer park in Texas! How on earth could I believe who actually killed Tutankhamun? All I could do was sit and make up my own opinion.

Now I've nothing against historians, I'm told it's important we know who killed Tutankhamun! Although I'm sceptical myself! But in my business - which is practically mathematics - there is no room for bullcrap, no room for opinion, things are either right or wrong and if you try to lie you are shunned, simple! It seems to me that historians can all independently come to differing conclusions and we are no further forward into finding the truth, a group of mathematicians can work independently and come to the same result and there is no argument becasue correct is truely correct! That is my reason why I believe History is conjecture!

Ask ten historians whether Joe Bloggs (some historical figure) was a good a bad person and why, you woul be there all day trying to get them to agree with their result.

Ask ten mathematicians to solve a soluble partial differential equation they'll be having tea and biscuits in a relaxed atmosphere in no time because they all agree on what is correct, if someone doesn't agree with the other nine, then he's giong to have made a mistake!

[Kirsty Harris]

I was addicted to the recent series of Doctor Who, which was really great. I like Stargate and Stargate Atlantas (although I'm slightly embarressed about it!!). I find it hard to get in to t.v series in general, becasue of my work schedule being on a rotar system - I'm never able to follow through on watching episodes!!

I used to like ER, but that's rubbish now.

I like watching older shows on the various Sky channels, like Poirot, Miss Marple, LA Law and Chicago Hope!

My favorite ever t.v. show was Oz, which was a cult American show set in a prision. That was really cool, but it's finished now. It featured the most twist romance in the history of television!!

I mainly watch one-off drama and films, and sport of course.

[Mongoose]

Originally Posted by Kirsty Harris

I like watching older shows on the various Sky channels, like Poirot, Miss Marple, LA Law and Chicago Hope!

Ah, Miss Marple. She of the turkey-skin neck, picture postcard villages and highly unlikely suspects. I told my housemates about Miss Marple, and they found it hard to believe. Lo and behold, they brought her back as repeats on BBC2, so my housemates could discover her all for themselves. Needless to say, they were entralled and refused to let me change the channel to something else. I used to love detective dramas as a kid. Me, my brother and my mum would watch Miss Marple, Poirot, Bergerac, Inspecor Morse etc. My Dad would always come in half way through and spend the rest of the programme asking us who was who, and who did what, until my mum told him to shut up. Jonathan Creek is a good more recent addition to the detective genre, although you know the solution will be something ridiculously improbable and there's no hope of you ever guessing it before Jonny reveals what happened.

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by Lemming

...I believe History is conjecture!...

It is not Lemming. It's a branch of knowledge that records and analyzes past events, it is prone to being more opinioned then factual at times but that doesn't mean the opinions are baseless. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (an American agitator and organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World and Communist party activist) said History has a long-range perspective.

You can well use isolated example to prove your point, but it is a fact that when you are working with such diverse sources for recording history such as books, newspapers, printed documents, personal papers, and other archival records, artifacts, and even oral accounts, you will bound to have different views. But each will have a basis. It is up to individuals to decide which version of history they are most comfortable with. It is not certain unlike Maths.

I'm not exactly a history geek or anything close to that but I know a few people who are, history geeks have eccentric tastes, but seem very accommodating, open-minded people. I have personally always been fascinated by history, and it used to be one of my more liked subjects as a child, I certainly liked it a lot more then Maths.

I did not though like the fact that at times the education system I was exposed to forced me to get acquainted to a version of history they wanted their youth to have rather then letting the youth decide on their own. Some of the darkest parts of our history for instance, like the events that led to the separation of West Pakistan (now Bangladesh) are barely covered topics in nationwide history syllabi, similarly barely anything has been said against the numerous non-civilian governments in this country and how each of them has progressively made a joke of the word democracy.

Our Pakistan Studies books are much similar to the old fashioned 9 o clock news bulletin we get on State Television, PTV, everyday, somehow our leaders still manage to think of their public as absolute fools who will believe anything and everything they are told. That is why I will not mind watching Discovery or the History Channel, even National Geographic at times, they have more of a 'we report you decide' policy as opposed 'this is what happened, no ifs or buts' version I have found in some books.

Originally Posted by Mang

By the way, love the bouncing white blob thingy, Zainub.

LOL! The "bouncing white blob thingy" is actually a jumpting chick, got it in my mail, reminded me of something silly I did as a child, so made it my avatar.

Originally Posted by Mang

Friends is hugely over-rated.

Might be to some extent, but then most popular tv shows are "over rated". I will though that whilst not exactly being a die hard or anything I still enjoyed the show, and still watch it whenever its on. It strikes me as being a very real show, the stories of Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey, Ross, and Phoebe are the stories of countless other people in US.

[Mongoose]

Originally Posted by Zainub Razvi

LOL! The "bouncing white blob thingy" is actually a jumpting chick, got it in my mail, reminded me of something silly I did as a child, so made it my avatar.

Do you realise you've effectively made a commitment to telling us a story there, Zainub! Come on, what did you do?

[R W S]

One thing that has freaked me out about Dutch TV is that on sesame street Big Bird is blue - what's that all about?

Zainub mentioned 'Jack the Builder' whereas in the UK (I think where he was created) he is known as 'Bob the Builder' narrated by that Neil Morrisey chap who was very funny in Med Behaving Badly. A Canadian friend of mine showed me their version which is called 'Trailer Park Boys' and is hilarious.