01-25-2006, 02:34 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-25-2006, 02:44 PM by [wcip]Angel.)
I haven't watched a television programme on TV for years now, but I'm a huge fan of TV-series (more so than movies) and so you'll find plenty of television DVD-box sets on my shelves, including
* Buffy the vampire slayer
* Firefly
* The Sopranos
* Murder One
* NYPD Blue (Season 3 is coming in february! Wohoo!!)
* Babylon 5
* Taken
* The 4400 (a bit disappointed with this one though)
* Seinfeld
* Curb your Enthusiasm (bought season 1 and 2 just last week. It compliments "Seinfeld" really well.)
* Frasier
* Little Britain
* The Office
Needless to say, http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/ is one of my favourite websites :)
In the future I plan on getting the following DVDs
* Angel
* 6 feet under
* The West Wing
* Deadwood
* ER
* The X-files
I'll also complete the series I already have.
-----
The reason I don't watch television series on TV is 4-fold
1. I can't watch the episodes whenever I like
2. I can't watch them several times over
3. Commercials (!!)
4. Horrible Norwegian subtitles. It's not as bad as German/French/Italian dubbing of American television, but the translated subtitles are *always* dreadful.
The best show is - without a doubt - The Sopranos. From the fantastic and highly convincing acting, well-written scripts and cinematic presentation to the huge bunch of well-portrayed characters, lovely and suitable music and the engrossing and thought-provoking stories; The Sopranos shines in every conceivable way.
For years, my favourite show was Buffy, as there was no other show (and still isn't) that could pull at my heart strings as well as this one did. There is no tv show that has made me cry or feel such raw emotion than this one. In time, had it not been ruthlessly cancelled in the middle of its 1st season, I suspect Firefly would have achieved the level of emotion that Buffy carried in its best episodes. (Becoming, Passion, The Body, Hush, Amends, etc) I read on The Elder Scrolls forums yesterday a post about Firefly, and I thought to myself "that's a nice quote."
"Firefly is not the best series ever made, but it's the best series ever made that was cancelled mid-season."
It's now been 7 years since it went off the air, and still no sit-com has bested what I consider to be one of the funniest shows ever created; Seinfeld. I still watch 3-4 episodes a day, and I consider myself a normal person. Not only do I watch the episodes over and over, I think about the show all the time, because the show deals with a lot of mundane everyday things. Whenever I compose a forum post on a given topic, I always manage to find a Seinfeld-quote that's somehow related to the subject. I recently started watching Curb Your Enthusiasm (created by Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld), and it's amazing how well these two shows compliment each other. I also love the "no-script"-improv-thing that the show is based on. (Basically, there's no script. The actors are told what the scene will be about and in which direction it should move, but they make up their own lines to get there.)
I feel I should also say something about Babylon 5. Those who are fans *love* the show. Those who are not *hate* it, and it's very easy to understand why. I get the distinct impression that Babylon 5 is one of the best sci-fi programmes that has so many crappy episodes. (Some might compare it to Stargate SG1, which is also riddled with horrible episodes while having a nice overarching storyline). If you examine the series real up-close, episode by episode; scene by scene, you'll be regularly confronted with horrible acting, lousy writing and crappy stories. However, if you take a step back and look at the series as a whole, it's a whole different story. It's an epic; a saga about the people aboard a space station, and the impact they have on contemporary, future and even past history. The series span 5 years, but there is much information about the years before and those to come. The overarching story of the whole series is impressive, detailed and highly entertaining.
The 'filler'-episodes are occasionally dreadful, occasionally bearable, but the "plot-episodes" - the once that impact on the rest of the series, are all remarkable. The thing about "The Sopranos" is that it's always great; the acting, the writing, music and cinematography.. it's *always* great. The thing about Babylon 5 is that these things (the quality of acting, writing, directing) fluctuate immensely. Sometimes an actor will give a poor performance, and other times that person will shine. (Same with the writing) (Bruce Boxleitner and Mira Furlan shone brightest of all in the last episode of the series, "Sleeping in Light". When I hear people criticise and complain about Babylon 5, I just think about their performances in that episode, and I smile.)
Yeah, I like television :)
What film can do, television can do better.
edit: And that was a hell of a lot more than 100,29 words :P
* Buffy the vampire slayer
* Firefly
* The Sopranos
* Murder One
* NYPD Blue (Season 3 is coming in february! Wohoo!!)
* Babylon 5
* Taken
* The 4400 (a bit disappointed with this one though)
* Seinfeld
* Curb your Enthusiasm (bought season 1 and 2 just last week. It compliments "Seinfeld" really well.)
* Frasier
* Little Britain
* The Office
Needless to say, http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/ is one of my favourite websites :)
In the future I plan on getting the following DVDs
* Angel
* 6 feet under
* The West Wing
* Deadwood
* ER
* The X-files
I'll also complete the series I already have.
-----
The reason I don't watch television series on TV is 4-fold
1. I can't watch the episodes whenever I like
2. I can't watch them several times over
3. Commercials (!!)
4. Horrible Norwegian subtitles. It's not as bad as German/French/Italian dubbing of American television, but the translated subtitles are *always* dreadful.
The best show is - without a doubt - The Sopranos. From the fantastic and highly convincing acting, well-written scripts and cinematic presentation to the huge bunch of well-portrayed characters, lovely and suitable music and the engrossing and thought-provoking stories; The Sopranos shines in every conceivable way.
For years, my favourite show was Buffy, as there was no other show (and still isn't) that could pull at my heart strings as well as this one did. There is no tv show that has made me cry or feel such raw emotion than this one. In time, had it not been ruthlessly cancelled in the middle of its 1st season, I suspect Firefly would have achieved the level of emotion that Buffy carried in its best episodes. (Becoming, Passion, The Body, Hush, Amends, etc) I read on The Elder Scrolls forums yesterday a post about Firefly, and I thought to myself "that's a nice quote."
"Firefly is not the best series ever made, but it's the best series ever made that was cancelled mid-season."
It's now been 7 years since it went off the air, and still no sit-com has bested what I consider to be one of the funniest shows ever created; Seinfeld. I still watch 3-4 episodes a day, and I consider myself a normal person. Not only do I watch the episodes over and over, I think about the show all the time, because the show deals with a lot of mundane everyday things. Whenever I compose a forum post on a given topic, I always manage to find a Seinfeld-quote that's somehow related to the subject. I recently started watching Curb Your Enthusiasm (created by Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld), and it's amazing how well these two shows compliment each other. I also love the "no-script"-improv-thing that the show is based on. (Basically, there's no script. The actors are told what the scene will be about and in which direction it should move, but they make up their own lines to get there.)
I feel I should also say something about Babylon 5. Those who are fans *love* the show. Those who are not *hate* it, and it's very easy to understand why. I get the distinct impression that Babylon 5 is one of the best sci-fi programmes that has so many crappy episodes. (Some might compare it to Stargate SG1, which is also riddled with horrible episodes while having a nice overarching storyline). If you examine the series real up-close, episode by episode; scene by scene, you'll be regularly confronted with horrible acting, lousy writing and crappy stories. However, if you take a step back and look at the series as a whole, it's a whole different story. It's an epic; a saga about the people aboard a space station, and the impact they have on contemporary, future and even past history. The series span 5 years, but there is much information about the years before and those to come. The overarching story of the whole series is impressive, detailed and highly entertaining.
The 'filler'-episodes are occasionally dreadful, occasionally bearable, but the "plot-episodes" - the once that impact on the rest of the series, are all remarkable. The thing about "The Sopranos" is that it's always great; the acting, the writing, music and cinematography.. it's *always* great. The thing about Babylon 5 is that these things (the quality of acting, writing, directing) fluctuate immensely. Sometimes an actor will give a poor performance, and other times that person will shine. (Same with the writing) (Bruce Boxleitner and Mira Furlan shone brightest of all in the last episode of the series, "Sleeping in Light". When I hear people criticise and complain about Babylon 5, I just think about their performances in that episode, and I smile.)
Yeah, I like television :)
What film can do, television can do better.
edit: And that was a hell of a lot more than 100,29 words :P
