TV, Television, Drug of the Nation, the tube, and the center piece of so many American homes... that's what I want to talk about for a while. I'll come back to music and movies in a while... but for now let me just say that I watch only a little TV these days and that suits me fine....
I was a tv junkie for most of my life, sitting for hours in front of the tube watching mostly junk and a few amazing things on TV. I watched the the news moments of our time (sans 911 I was in sweden and only watched a little of that whole thing) on TV, I watched sit coms. dramas, cop shows, and all kinds of other crap... and I remember most of it.
At it's best (mostly shows that slipped through for a few months, a season or sometimes a few years) TV has presented well written, acted and produced programs (look at my list of favorite shows to see what I think has been the best stuff) that have shown insight to the human condition, educated, or entertained. At it's worst we have been treated as fools, pandered to and let down with the lowest, crudest and lamest ideas wrapped into a so called TV show.
I'm going to start off talking about what I consider the best TV show of all time: Homicide: Life on the Street.
Cops don't watch cop shows for a reason, 99% of the time they have nothing to do with police work or the reality of working the street... Homicide was one, maybe the first show that did away with the classic cop show that was really a soap- opera- about- people- who- we- were- lead to- believe- worked-as-cops. Homicide was a show about how working with, around and really in the middle of death and evil every day effects people. It was well written and acted, with an ensemble feel to it that really balanced the show. There was a grittiness that was real and the actors tended to look like cops, not pretty people in police uniforms.
It is one of the few shows that I can watch today and see or hear things that I missed the first time around. It's a show that I recall the episodes years later, even if I only saw them once, because they were so well done.
the first 4 seasons are currently out on DVD and I recommend checking them out.
other police shows that have or had the same feel as Homicide? the only one that I can point to is the current show The Shield which has a Homicide element to it, due to Clark Johnson (who stared on Homicide) having directed several of the episodes.
Notes:
Cops, the first and still best reality TTV show really shows what it's like to be on the streets, however you don't see the paperwork or hours of nothing going on, and many times the officers are a lot nicer than they would be if the camera wasn't there.
Barney Miller was and still is cited by cops as one of the best cop shows of all time because of the humor and the fact that a shoot out every episode wasn't required
next time: who knows, I should talk about freaks and geeks or Coupling or the Office, we'll see what I feel like writing about.
I was a tv junkie for most of my life, sitting for hours in front of the tube watching mostly junk and a few amazing things on TV. I watched the the news moments of our time (sans 911 I was in sweden and only watched a little of that whole thing) on TV, I watched sit coms. dramas, cop shows, and all kinds of other crap... and I remember most of it.
At it's best (mostly shows that slipped through for a few months, a season or sometimes a few years) TV has presented well written, acted and produced programs (look at my list of favorite shows to see what I think has been the best stuff) that have shown insight to the human condition, educated, or entertained. At it's worst we have been treated as fools, pandered to and let down with the lowest, crudest and lamest ideas wrapped into a so called TV show.
I'm going to start off talking about what I consider the best TV show of all time: Homicide: Life on the Street.
Cops don't watch cop shows for a reason, 99% of the time they have nothing to do with police work or the reality of working the street... Homicide was one, maybe the first show that did away with the classic cop show that was really a soap- opera- about- people- who- we- were- lead to- believe- worked-as-cops. Homicide was a show about how working with, around and really in the middle of death and evil every day effects people. It was well written and acted, with an ensemble feel to it that really balanced the show. There was a grittiness that was real and the actors tended to look like cops, not pretty people in police uniforms.
It is one of the few shows that I can watch today and see or hear things that I missed the first time around. It's a show that I recall the episodes years later, even if I only saw them once, because they were so well done.
the first 4 seasons are currently out on DVD and I recommend checking them out.
other police shows that have or had the same feel as Homicide? the only one that I can point to is the current show The Shield which has a Homicide element to it, due to Clark Johnson (who stared on Homicide) having directed several of the episodes.
Notes:
Cops, the first and still best reality TTV show really shows what it's like to be on the streets, however you don't see the paperwork or hours of nothing going on, and many times the officers are a lot nicer than they would be if the camera wasn't there.
Barney Miller was and still is cited by cops as one of the best cop shows of all time because of the humor and the fact that a shoot out every episode wasn't required
next time: who knows, I should talk about freaks and geeks or Coupling or the Office, we'll see what I feel like writing about.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
i am also a barney miller fan. i used to watch that show when i was a kid. and COPS is always entertaining. did you ever see the star wars spin on that? TROOPS. good stuff.