Television

[Chani]

I had heard that there was a new Monk, but not when... Thank you Kathy. *shouts wooohooo!*

Monk is probably one of the funniest shows on now. *shaking head* It is nice to see that I am not crazy... that there are other Monk fans around.

[Kathy Li]

We worship the Shalhoub.

I still remember the shock I got when X-Files started pulling in the best of the indie film actors, and suddenly there was this episode with Tony Shalhoub, and another one with Lili Taylor.

Massive cognitive dissonance.

Then, I nearly died laughing when Sarah Silverman showed up on Monk as the fan, protesting the change of the theme song.

[Birdhead]

Okay, I just saw, like, the last five minutes if CSI: Miami (Sorry, again, and this time a RANT) and it was showing an episode about a guy who comes home and shoots his kids, then his wife, because "of their constant asking for more," and leaving a toddler, two or so, still alive. Anyway, as I said I missed most of the episode, but I caught the wrapping up where the father/murderer climbs into the cop car and is all "It was so not premeditated, I was insane." (Sorry, harsh summary.) We then go back to the lab, and Blonde Balding Guy basically says he thinks it was premeditated, but the guy is going to plead insanity and because of this, presumably, is not going to get the death penalty. (I'll intercede here to say FINE BY ME, because capital punishment by the state is one of few laws I absolutely and utterly and completely abhor- but also, I don't know Miami law, posibly not the death penalty.)

Anyway. Blonde Balding Guy says to Black0Haired Guy that this is terrible, because "What's important is that [little girl toddler, now effectively an orphan] knows what really happened."

EXCUSE ME? There's this little two year old, no mother, no father, and he thinks that what's important is that she knows that her daddy got up one morning and said, "right, I'm going to kill my son and my baby and my wife and, yes, YOU, but, oops, I missed, but I killed everyone else, so I'm still going to jail. But always remember I knew what I was doing." OH, YEAH, THAT'S IMPORTANT.

That, I think, is a completely twisted priority system. What is important is not that this little girl grows up knowing all this; it's not even that this murderer is punished according to all his crimes. What's important is helping her grow up and still have a good life. RRRG. I hate that a TV show can be good to watch and then have this completely twisted (as I see it) moral value at the end. >.<

I started shouting at the television screen, and then my brother shouted at me, so... I came up to work out my frustration on this poor keyboard. Thanks for listening.

[talkingbeast]

Yeah, the last time I watched CSI I got pretty upset. My parents had been telling me what a great show it was. The episode happened to be about a girl who went missing from her college campus. Ooh, bad episode to watch just then. A girl who had gone missing from my campus had recently been found, murdered. On CSI they were making it into a plot full of romance (she's young! She's female! There has to be romance!) and random cooincidences. It just seemed very dehumanizing the way the show treated her.

[Kathy Li]

CSI has always struck me as cheap entertainment, and definitely a morals-free ground, particularly as they often go for National Enquirer type sordidness in the storylines. But I think I interpreted that ending differently from you. That what Grissom meant was that the important thing was that the girl was probably traumatized and was going to have to learn how to live with the knowledge for the rest of her life. That that was the real problem to be dealt with, not punishing the father.

talkingbeast: CSI is not for everyone. It's ok to not like it. And again, I didn't see it as dehumanizing the victim so much as that in the real world, there isn't always a criminal to put behind bars--there isn't always someone to blame. Different pov. But then, I'm not a college student any more.

I've been enjoying The Dead Zone's new season. I'm surprised they turned the Rev. Purdy bad, given how great he's been in the previous two seasons. And by now I've completely forgotten which bits are in the book and which bits aren't.

[Jaru]

I'm surprised they turned the Rev. Purdy bad, given how great he's been in the previous two seasons.
You think so? Because the way he's been played has left me creeped out and expecting something like this from the first episode.
Is it just me, or did the way Johnny got his little "psychic vision sound effect" when he touched the letter Rev. Purdy showed him at the end of that episode make you suspect that it was a fake? (Being deliberately vague so as not to spoil it for anyone.)



Also, for those who were talking about the ads for the new seasons of "Monk" and "The Dead Zone," I transcribed it here
(I'm khavrinen on LiveJournal)

[Kathy Li]

Heck. I recorded that commercial onto my current Monk tape. Nah, Purdy struck me as completely a straight arrow, I bought it hook line and sinker; I'm the worst kind of idiot at picking that stuff up. I'm also amazed at how well Flanery is projecting Stilson as a complete and utter slimeball. He's actually making my skin crawl. I can't believe he's the same guy who played Young Indy.

I don't think that the letter was a fakeout, but you could be right.

[drea]

See, this is why CourtTV is way better than CSI. Sure, they dehumanize a little bit, but the forensics become the important part of the story, rather than the relationships.

It's always the good guys that go bad. Of course.

[crookedfrog21]

Nooo! CSI is the ultimate! Grissom is the complete man! And Greg too, becasue well, he is just silly...

Yes, monk is God.

Has anybody else seen the show called "Touching Evil"? It is on the same channle as "Monk".

[Kathy Li]

Yeah, I've been watching Touching Evil. Strangely, I enjoy it more than the UK original which aired on PBS, but that's probably because I don't much care for Robson Green, and I've watched so much cheap SF TV over the years, that most of the Canadian backup cast are familiar. (So far, we've had folks from Odyssey5, Dark Angel, Highlander... ).

But I don't think it's as good as Monk or Dead Zone.

[crookedfrog21]

I haven't watchd that much of The Dead Zone, but I have heard it is really good. I really like Touching Evil becasue of the person it is focused around. I absolutely LOVE is character. It is just so funny and ironic to me. It's great. did you see the Season finally? Also, Bruce Willis Produced it, so i think that helps to make it interesting.

[Kathy Li]

Yeah, Willis providing the money means they can hire some really interesting talent to work on the show, and the Hughes Bros. (From Hell) have the right sort of aesthetic for the show--it's always gorgeously shot.

[crookedfrog21]

Yeah. From Hell Though gory, was still really well done. Touching Evil is always pretty well done also. The lighting and things like that are always just a small touch differnt than other telvision shows.

[Kathy Li]

Errr... From Hell was beautifully filmed, but it was a really bad adaptation of the graphic novel. I had a very hard time watching it, because the whole time that Johnny Depp was wandering about as Abbeline, the guy who should've been playing Abbeline, Robbie Coltrane, was right at his elbow. Very different experience watching the film if you read the Alan Moore/Eddie Campbell graphic novel. They caught less than 30% of what went on in the comic.

[crookedfrog21]

Well, the movie isn't based off of a comic book, is it? I mean, the story that they tell in From Hell actually happened. It isn't fictitious. Granted, all of the things between Johnny Depp's character and Heather Grahm's character might be fake, but the story is not just a story. It is history. So, maybe they followed history, not just a comic book.