Originally Posted by Kapri (Post 10635495)

I totally avoid any of those reality tv shows. It would depress me to watch them.
I either watch box sets of things like Game of Thrones, or I record programmes I enjoy and watch them when I feel like it (or catch up online).
Luckily, with tv the way it is now, there is no need to flick through channels watching rubbish.
I also couldn't stand spending large parts of my life watching soaps. For people who watch corrie, Eastenders, Neighbours etc - how do you have time to do anything else? :D

Originally Posted by Swerv-o (Post 10635729)

Season 3 has been pretty intense and very good TBH. It's following a different story arc to the comics (if you have ever read any of them) but I quite like the bleak outlook of it and the fact that there is rarely a happy ending. It's very different from stuff like Star Trek and Stargate where everything is always wrapped up in a single (or occasionally double) episode.

Originally Posted by renth (Post 10635706)

The Mrs and I got bored with the Walking dead half way through season 2 s well, I told this to a TV addict at a wedding on Thursday and he reckoned you have to stick with it as it gets really good again.

Originally Posted by BadgeIsBack (Post 10635868)

To be honest, I can't work out whether a whole slather of people have been converted or, it's the same demographic we've always had.

Originally Posted by eddie007 (Post 10634663)

You forgot Quilting:sneaky:

Originally Posted by renth (Post 10635871)

I was never really a TV addict until I moved to Perth, more into going out to pubs and stuff but that's not really possible here unless you are a millionaire and don't mind going to "pubs" with bouncers on the door.

Originally Posted by GarryP (Post 10635811)

Why has nobody here done a satire on Today Tonight? It would be so easy to push it that extra inch into straight up ludicrousness.

...

Well OK, even further into it, so people really notice .....

Originally Posted by renth (Post 10635871)

I was never really a TV addict until I moved to Perth, more into going out to pubs and stuff but that's not really possible here unless you are a millionaire and don't mind going to "pubs" with bouncers on the door.

Originally Posted by JoeBloggs80 (Post 10635763)

You knock me for the mighty MKR but then go on to recommend Jonathan Creek :rofl:

Pots and kettles flying all over the place.

Originally Posted by GarryP (Post 10636377)

The man who would compare MKR and Jonathan Creek is a man who has been too long suffering aussie TV - and no longer has any taste left, at all.....

Originally Posted by JoeBloggs80 (Post 10637296)

I watch lots of HBO stuff and foreign films too if that helps? Its just fun to watch some formulaic trash sometimes too. Life is a rich tapestry eh.

Originally Posted by JoeBloggs80 (Post 10637296)

As for the point above, I think the rise in boxsets,etc is simply the fact that TV has improved dramtically the last 10-20 years. It probably started around the time of The Sopranos.

Its overtaken cinema in terms of depth and creativity as there is only so much you can put into a 2 hour movie, but the scope of a whole series is so much bigger.

Originally Posted by GarryP (Post 10637326)

It's so fake and false, and plays up to the worst aspects of humanity - tribalism, gossip, backstabbing. You are meant to hate particular characters; cheer for double dealing and laud those that can do, well, nothing in particular.

Originally Posted by GarryP (Post 10637326)

Actually I would tag it specifically to one show - "Babylon 5"

Originally Posted by GarryP (Post 10637326)

Maybe I'm just more sensitive to the scripted nature of 'reality' TV. Why don't they just say "here is a kitchen sink drama where we didn't pay the actors"? Hell, they have optimised the formats now such that for some shows they don't even pay for a studio, etc. - just a camera and some editing suite time - and a sarky voiceover.

It's so fake and false, and plays up to the worst aspects of humanity - tribalism, gossip, backstabbing. You are meant to hate particular characters; cheer for double dealing and laud those that can do, well, nothing in particular.


Actually I would tag it specifically to one show - "Babylon 5"

That demonstrated that besides 'soaps' and 'monster of the week-reset' shows, you could do a story with a defined arc, where things from series 1 came back in series 3, and where there was a beginning, middle and end to a story that spanned the defined number of episodes of the show.

That allows depth and subtly into TV programmes. You didn't have to set things back to zero each episode, and you didn't have to have a meandering 'story' where nothing really had an important effect (so that anyone could join and understand the soap quickly).

That also supported the sale of big boxsets, where there was value to the viewer in being able to go back and review episodes at their leisure. That, in turn, gave another revenue stream that helped defray the costs significantly. In turn, the availability of those boxsets allowed people to ignore the initial showing on TV (with ads all over it) and just buy the boxset to watch when and how they wished.

Moving forward, it's pretty clear that the future is for TV to be downloaded (and paid for) first, and broadcast second. As physical disks go away, downloads win out as the way to take the broadcasters out of the critical path and put the money with the creators. Payment models that cross kickstarter with serialised downloads and upselling disintermediate the supply chain and can yield new opportunities for intelligent programming and niche interests.

Originally Posted by GarryP (Post 10637326)

Actually I would tag it specifically to one show - "Babylon 5"

Originally Posted by JoeBloggs80 (Post 10637339)

Interesting, I've never actually watched it but will take your word for it.