Television

[kaiba4ever]

[Peter Murray]

Dave Goelz was both one of the muppet-makers and Gonzo's voice, but I don't suppose you can remember if it was him. Gonzo was the blue weird creature. (He still is.)

I gather there used to be a T-shirt which had the Flintstones' neighbour, Barney Rubble, in heroic pose, standing over a dead purple dinosaur. Above that it said "There can be only one!"

[Birdhead]

I just wanted to pop in and beg Kathy and anyone else who watches Lost to spoiler-warning if they post anything here about the latest eps in the states. We're just coming up to Episode 14 here, and I just recently got spoiled by being told something seriously important that happened in Episode Twenty, and I'm really sort of desperately annoyed about it, so don't break my heart and do spoiler warning please please please (I didn't get spoiled here. It was by some total loser in my Hall who downloaded it. So it hasn't happened here yet. I just wanted to sort of beg and plead just in case, you know? Because I read this topic a lot. )

And, ah, no more content here. Sorry. *guilt guilt*

[Kathy Li]

I'd count begging for spoiler-guarding for a tv show tv contenty-enough. I'll try to remember, although generally, nobody here really wants to talk Lost. We get some bogus recap episode this week, because ABC's apparently discovered that some people like to know what's happening in a tv show storyarc... snort.

[Cress]

I really want to start watching Lost, but I figure if you start in the middle you will be so horribly confused that nothing will make anything even close to sense, and my mother does not approve of large amounts of TV especially during the week. I mean, I can barely watch Buffy reruns once a week, it would be almost impossible to find time to watch Lost. Otherwise, I would most definetely talk about it.

[Birdhead]

Well, at least it wasn't a total waste of time, then. Thanks, Kathy.

As for LOST- you know, I would suggest that you could maybe pick it up? I mean, you probably wouldn't understand a lot of things, but it's not like a soap opera where everything depends on who's dating whom, and who is who's worst enemy. It's way more plot driven, which sounds like it would be worse, but I think is more convenient to pick up with.

Then again, I'm hopeless at picking up on stuff I haven't watched right from the beginning so. You know.

Anyway. Lost tonight!!

[Kohaku]

I have a couple of friends who watch Lost. ::shrug:: I don't watch TV. Well, not anymore.

Cress: Starting in the middle of a TV show isn't necessarily confusing if the episodes are well-written, making character relationships and major plot stuff obvious enough to first-time viewers (but not so obvious as to look like a rerun episode to people who've seen it from the beginning). I started watching Babylon 5 in the middle of season four and I got it pretty easily. (And then of course I got ahold of all the older episodes and watched those too...but I didn't need them to understand the plot/characters.)

[Kathy Li]

Snort. Cress, the "bogus recap" episode I mentioned is probably ideal for you. Watch it tonight. It'll catch you all the way up so far. Have you thought of taping/tivoing TV shows and watching them later, skipping the commercials? You end up sitting in front of the tube 25% less that way.

Tui, I think it depends on what kind of tv show viewer you are. If you pay attention, you can step into the middle of any show, but you may not get the full impact. Some shows are simply better if you see all the episodes in order, especially ones that are arced (i.e., have stories that continue over multiple episodes), or that drop clues along the way to be pieced together later down the line. LOST is both of those.

OTOH, Lost may not be worth keeping up with next season. They're losing David Fury, who wrote my favorite episode ever of Lost ("Walkabout"--the Locke "origin" story) to The Inside.

And all us Buffy fans are sort of waiting to see what it looks like, given that Tim Minear, Jane Espenson, and David Fury are all working on it.

[Cress]

I'll try. I think I might have already missed it though. Petty annoyances. Mostly I just meant that Lost sounded like a show that had a LOT of stuff in it that comes back up, stuff that didn't seem really important then, but ends up being really important.
Actually, I don't know how to record on my current VCR. I knew how to on the old one, but it broke and we got a new one, and we haven't had to try yet. I'm actually kind of scared to try since I think I would just break something. Anyway, I don't think I have any blank VHS...es.

[Kathy Li]

Bump.

Has anybody else watched the pilot episode ("New Girl in Town") for The Inside (this is TV-14 stuff, btw)? I loved it, but I'm already a CSI fan. For the Buffy/Angel/Lost fans who tuned in hoping it would be something else, I can imagine they were massively disappointed. But I have faith in Minear, Fury, Espenson, and Howard.

I did crack up, though, that at one point I was jumping up and down and yelling, "there ARE no metro trains in LA that go straight to LAX!!!" and then it turned out to be a plot point instead of Hollywood stupidity. That was nice.

I'm also a bit intrigued at how the future-episode teasers included something that sounds an awful lot like an Outer Limits (the new one) episode I once saw, which argues that the show is going to head in the SF/F direction at some point.

Also, I know it's silly of me, but I'm way-enjoying Judd Winick's show on Cartoon Network, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee. It ain't Barry Ween, but it'll do.

[Birdhead]

Bump!

I've always wanted to do that.

ahem.

So, anyway, me and my best friends recently decided that, instead of sleep, what we really wanted to was watch the first season-and-a-half of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, along with <STRIKE>a totally illegal download of </STRIKE> Once More With Feeling.

Of course, we're really enjoying it (part-way through Season Two as we speak) and getting all posthumously fannish about it- posthumous in terms of the show, that is. We're still living, for the moment. Anyway, after chatting awhile, Lucy wanted to know exactly why Seasons Five and Six- with the exception of OMWF- or considered to be so bad (by everyone she's talked to, anyway), and what happened to improve it in Season Seven.

i told her I thought I might know who to ask. Don't let me down here, guys. I'm also curious as to how gay Willow really is- apparently she dates some guy later on? And also, what happened to Xander between Season One and Season Six that he got so un-hot. :P

[db_pr]

I like CSI... but I prefer Law & Order, I don't know why but it's, for me at least, more real... in CSI, at least what I've seen, a clue pops out of nowhere and tells them who did it, kinda unreal, huh?

Or they spent 10 minutes anylizing bullet holes and all they make off it is that the shooter shot sideways... I could've tell them that without their fancy instruments...

I've never seen CSI, but I love Law and Order, when I was younger I hated the whole trial thingy.. now I love both parts, it cool to watch... but if you want a really good crime TV show, watch Monk... BEST SHOW EVER! It is SOO funny, and the cases are cool/not obvious who did it.... Ummm, I don't watch TV too much anymore (much funner online )... My bro is the one who watches it now.. I'll watch Monk, or movies, or random food channel shows (parents), but I'll watch avatar with my bro.. I missed the first couple but they're pretty good... um, im not functioning to well this morning, so im gonna stop now....

[db_pr]

I would like to watch Monk, however, I never catch it. I don't know when they show it, or maybe I just don't have the channel, I never seem to see it anywhere.

[Kathy Li]

Originally posted by Birdhead:
Bump!

I've always wanted to do that.

Isn't it fun?

... Lucy wanted to know exactly why Seasons Five and Six- with the exception of OMWF- or considered to be so bad (by everyone she's talked to, anyway), and what happened to improve it in Season Seven.

i told her I thought I might know who to ask. Don't let me down here, guys.

Snort. I should give you a bogus answer for that. The main reason is that the overall formula of the show changed drastically between Season 3 and 4. (the high school -> college transition, and the moving of Angel and Cordelia off BUFFY and onto ANGEL).

Seasons 5 and 6 became unrelentingly depressing and about growing up and being an adult, with Buffy doing things like getting a job at a fast food restaurant to pay the mortgage. Offscreen, the main reasons these types of things were happening is because the Mutant Enemy team was splitting up its energies over three shows. Joss Whedon was overseeing both BUFFY and ANGEL, while he was developing FIREFLY.

During Season 6 of BUFFY--widely considered to be the absolute worst of the seasons--Marti Noxon, who was running Buffy, got pregnant and took maternity leave. David Greenwalt, who was showrunning ANGEL, tried to renegotiate his contract with Fox, and they dumped him. So, David Fury (I think) and Joss Whedon, who were GOING to be spending all their time running FIREFLY, suddenly had to run all three shows among the two of them.

Most of Joss's time went into FIREFLY. Most of Fury's into ANGEL. BUFFY kinda suffered, especially since they hired someone to replace Marti, and he didn't quite work out.

Then FIREFLY got cancelled (whole 'nother long story), and Joss was back on Buffy for Season 7. Guess which show got better?

This is why you read the writing/producing credits on a tv show.

I'm also curious as to how gay Willow really is--apparently she dates some guy later on?

My personal take is that Willow's bi, and that she can fall in love with either gender. It was Tara who was gay, and because Willlow loved her, they had a relationship. But no guys for Willow after Season 4.

And also, what happened to Xander between Season One and Season Six that he got so un-hot. :P

Snort. Nicholas Brendan was pushing 30 and basically got tired of trying to look like a geeky teenager, so he asked Whedon if it would be ok to beef up for the last two seasons. Since the storylines were mostly about growing up, and Xander's storyline include getting engaged and getting a job as a construction foreman, Whedon said ok.