The TV Rant Thread

[Crunchie]

I find that TV has a lot of irritating facets. Do you? One of my current ones is why so many serials that I seem to like just go away, while the nonsensical ones keep running. Just this year, which has been a mess because of the writer's strike, I was getting into "Cane", which appears to have died. Then there are shows which seem idiotic like "Men In Trees" and "Eli Stone", which apparently have a following. Last year I was into the sci-fi thing called "Surface". Of course, it got cancelled. Fox seems nuts. 24 was a top-rated show and they're not even running it this season. And when they do run it, they wait until Jan to begin the season. What happened to "Vegas"? I thought it was an interesting show. Anything I like seems to get cancelled. OK, enough ranting for tonight.

[Ted]

  I think a lot of the "sabbaticals" were because of the writers strike.

  What is getting me is the fact that certain networks are either starting their shows 3 minutes early or ending them 3 minutes late.

  Instead of all shows ending and starting at 8:00 PM, it seems some networks are starting their shows at 7:57 while other networks are ending their shows at 8:03

  Ted

[~LL~]

  I think a lot of the "sabbaticals" were because of the writers strike.

  What is getting me is the fact that certain networks are either starting their shows 3 minutes early or ending them 3 minutes late.

  Instead of all shows ending and starting at 8:00 PM, it seems some networks are starting their shows at 7:57 while other networks are ending their shows at 8:03

  Ted

Ted!  Thanks so much for posting this.  I thought there was something wrong with my VCR/DVD and TV programming or recording features.  Kept setting the time on all three to what I thought was correct -- but still got messed up recordings of fav shows & missing endings!  Wonder what the rationale is -- if any?

[mustang54]

  I think a lot of the "sabbaticals" were because of the writers strike.

  What is getting me is the fact that certain networks are either starting their shows 3 minutes early or ending them 3 minutes late.

  Instead of all shows ending and starting at 8:00 PM, it seems some networks are starting their shows at 7:57 while other networks are ending their shows at 8:03

  Ted

Ted!  Thanks so much for posting this.  I thought there was something wrong with my VCR/DVD and TV programming or recording features.  Kept setting the time on all three to what I thought was correct -- but still got messed up recordings of fav shows & missing endings!  Wonder what the rationale is -- if any?

Its done to cut into the viewing time of a rival networks programming. Especially if its one of their rivals top shows. Notice this is the first year of an overlap on Tuesday nights with idol running a couple minutes into the start time of Dancing With The Stars. One day some network is gonna start programming on the 15 minute slot on the hour instead of the hour or half hour.

[Hogzilla]

There was a great show on CBS a couple years ago called Love Monkey that was fantastic, great writing, great characters and canceled after 4 episodes, VH1 picked up the remaining. Breaking Bad is really good. Had a short season from what I hear and we lost our AMC after the first few episodes so I have no idea how it finished.

There's not too much worthwhile on TV. I do love The Office and 30 Rock though. And we end up sucked into HGTV and Food. Those are the standbys if nothing good is on.

[Bonster]

Neil Patrick Harris rules in How I Met Your Mother!

[Hogzilla]

Neil Patrick Harris rules in How I Met Your Mother!

Good one! And I have gotten sucked into Two and a Half Men. Great show.

[PamF]

Neil Patrick Harris rules in How I Met Your Mother!

Good one! And I have gotten sucked into Two and a Half Men. Great show.

If you're new to Two and a Half Men then you have to check this out www.charlieharpersucks.com  It was mentioned in one of the earlier episodes.  Quite funny.

[Hogzilla]

PamF, that's greatness! Hadn't seen that one. Funny stuff.

[Guy_on_Clinton]

2 words  BATTLESTAR GALACTICA http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/

i know its based outa a cheapo 70s knockoff of StarWars meets "BEDEDEDEDED" Buck Rogers...  But the new series is awesome...  Scifi channel FRAKKIN rocks on friday night!

[~LL~]

Waiting to hear if there will be any more episodes of Rescue Me. I thought Denis Leary was outstanding & good supporting cast.
For awhile -- about 3 or 4 years ago, FX ran a series called, "Lucky", with John Corbett (Northern Exposure & Sex & The City).  I thought it was terrific -- ranged from dark humor to slapstick stuff about a guy trying to beat his addiction to gambling while living in Las Vegas. Well written.  Gone after too-few episodes.

[Bear]

Did you ever notice how Leary's old man resembeld our ex FD cheif?

[Crunchie]

I'm starting to hate the AT&T high speed internet commercial with the two window washers more than the "Head On" ads.

[Crunchie]

What's your favorite commercial? I like the Dos Equis beer commercials with the "most interesting man in the world."

[Hogzilla]

I really like the Old Spice body wash commercials. Funny stuff.

[Crunchie]

The drug commercials are ridiculous. Almost all of them end by saying "Ask your Dr. if XYZ is right for you." If you need XYZ, shouldn't your Dr. be telling you, instead of you needing to ask him? Besides, a lot of Drs. get kickbacks from the drug companies if they write a lot of prescriptions for profitable drugs, so I think "conflict of interest" comes into play here. Did you ever try to get your Dr. on the phone? Haha. I've seen many drug commercials where it is unclear what they are trying to treat???

Also, I think the list of disclaimers and side effects on some of these drugs would scare me more than the condition they are supposed to be treating. Some of the side effects seem so bad that one of the drug's main selling points is the fact that it has never been recalled for bad side effects. If that's now considered a major selling point, we are in pretty sad shape. And where the hell do they come up with some of these conditions to treat; like "restless leg syndrome?" I think they are trying to program everybody into thinking that you can't get a good night's sleep anymore without some kind of pill. People know if they aren't sleeping well, we don't need subtle suggestions all the time that we probably aren't sleeping well, and need some addictive drugs to make us better.

One good thing, that dweeb Bob and his Enzyte commercials seem to have dried up. I heard the drug company was sued for fraud. Good.

Did anyone see the show on WTTW this week about health care in other countries? Very interesting. They surveyed the national health care systems in Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and Taiwan. All of them are operating on much less funding than we spend here, and offer complete coverage to all of their citizens. Good medical care doesn't have to cost a fortune, the huge profits of the insurance companies, HMOs, and the other players just need to be controlled.

[Berwyn Patsy]

"Restless leg syndrome" has been around for a long time, and is quite bother some,
from what I hear!

[Crunchie]

Really, you've actually heard of it before the recent ad campaign? I never had heard of it until recently. It just sounded like the kind of bullshit the drug companies would invent to sell pills to the hypochondriacs.

[Berwyn Patsy]

I have and stil do work in the Medical field for many years.  A lot of people are Dx with RLS.
One of my co-workers, suffers from this.

[Crunchie]

Are you guys getting tired of those damn ATT window washer commercials yet? What's up with some of the channels scheduling their shows to end 5 minutes late? It cuts into the starting time of any show on another channel. Screw 'em, I'm boycotting these morons. I know why they're doing it, and they can shove it.