Songs of Praise.

Matthew Shute wrote:Songs of Praise.

Free propaganda.

I went to Butlins once on a day trip when I was about 10. That's enough for me. Holidays are not regimented affairs where prats in red blazers constantly grill you over whether you're having a good time. X Factor contestants though...I bet they love Butlins.

Matthew Shute wrote:Songs of Praise.

Ugh fuck, yes. Make-believe, yet dull. That achievement requires some recognition.

Songs of praise was a BBC conspiracy that got out of hand. I'm sure it was only ever produced in order to make Last of the Summer Wine seem exciting in comparison.

I've yet to see the programme that could do that.

Blackadder wrote:

Fallible wrote:I can understand that being the case for stuff where people just sit around or be twats like in Big Brother, but how does a dancing competition appeal to people with low intelligence? It's just that I have a higher than average level of intelligence and it's a guilty pleasure of mine.

It's not the fact that it's a dancing competition, Fallible. I have no problem with talent competitions. It's the vacuous celebrities and the amount of manufactured "emotion" and hype that pisses me off. I know it pulls in the audiences and generates free publicity in the newspaper gossip pages but to me it's false, shallow and unnecessary. Which describes Simon Cowell to a T.

The advertising for those shows:
"The most watched show on Dutch television"
"Tonight, everyone's wacthing the Voice of Holland!" No, I'm fucking not, thank you.
"The most popular show on television"

Thomas Eshuis wrote:

Blackadder wrote:

Fallible wrote:I can understand that being the case for stuff where people just sit around or be twats like in Big Brother, but how does a dancing competition appeal to people with low intelligence? It's just that I have a higher than average level of intelligence and it's a guilty pleasure of mine.

It's not the fact that it's a dancing competition, Fallible. I have no problem with talent competitions. It's the vacuous celebrities and the amount of manufactured "emotion" and hype that pisses me off. I know it pulls in the audiences and generates free publicity in the newspaper gossip pages but to me it's false, shallow and unnecessary. Which describes Simon Cowell to a T.

The advertising for those shows:
"The most watched show on Dutch television"
"Tonight, everyone's wacthing the Voice of Holland!" No, I'm fucking not, thank you.
"The most popular show on television"

Could not agree more.

Strangely most all the world wide 'reality' shows came from the same stable in Duivendrecht (outside Amsterdam); Endemol.

Joop van de Ende and John de Mol.

scott1328 wrote:Fringe
X files

Ok so you hate both of my favorite sci-fi shows. If these are bad, then which contemporary Sci-Fi series would you recommend (if any)?

iamthereforeithink wrote:

scott1328 wrote:Fringe
X files

Ok so you hate both of my favorite sci-fi shows. If these are bad, then which contemporary Sci-Fi series would you recommend (if any)?

I did not say they were bad, and I don't hate them. In fact, I watched X-Files and Fringe until the last season because my S.O. liked them. I just didn't enjoy them.

I do enjoy Battlestar Galactica (both versions), Caprica, Walking Dead, V (both versions), Lost, Flash Forward, The Event, Threshhold, Surface, Invasion, Sanctuary, Lost

ETA: First season of Heroes was awesome. The subsequent seasons sucked all the more because the first season was so good.

scott1328 wrote:
ETA: First season of Heroes was awesome. The subsequent seasons sucked all the more because the first season was so good.

I still watched them all, but you're right.

scott1328 wrote:

iamthereforeithink wrote:

scott1328 wrote:Fringe
X files

Ok so you hate both of my favorite sci-fi shows. If these are bad, then which contemporary Sci-Fi series would you recommend (if any)?

I did not say they were bad, and I don't hate them. In fact, I watched X-Files and Fringe until the last season because my S.O. liked them. I just didn't enjoy them.

I do enjoy Battlestar Galactica (both versions), Caprica, Walking Dead, V (both versions), Lost, Flash Forward, The Event, Threshhold, Surface, Invasion, Sanctuary, Lost

ETA: First season of Heroes was awesome. The subsequent seasons sucked all the more because the first season was so good.

I'm currently re-watching Fringe , after stopping somewhere in season 4. And I like it very much. I really didn't like X-files on the other hand. But I understand why people can't get into Fringe, it's a very special tv show.

To come back on topic, I tried Mad Men, but I didn't find anything interesting in this show.

Fallible wrote:Yep, I can understand that. What I don't understand is how something like Strictly Come Dancing can't be enjoyable to people unless they're stupid.

My daughter loves it and she's far from stupid.

Scot Dutchy wrote:

Blackadder wrote:Virtually every kind of reality TV show.

American Idol
X Factor
Dancing on Ice
Strictly Come Dancing
Big Brother
The Apprentice

In every one of them, there were people who were so irritating I would like to kill them.

I won't even go into the REALLY shit stuff like TOWIE, all the various dating shows and the moron-voyeurism that is Springer, Kyle and others of that ilk. It's easier to self-lobotimise with the aid of a nail-gun.

A man of my heart.

Those programmes appeal to level of intelligence that I never thought existed.

How did these contrived situations, designed purely for the making of a TV show, get labelled as reality?

I think because they use 'real' peopple as opposed to actors.

scott1328 wrote:

iamthereforeithink wrote:

scott1328 wrote:Fringe
X files

Ok so you hate both of my favorite sci-fi shows. If these are bad, then which contemporary Sci-Fi series would you recommend (if any)?

I did not say they were bad, and I don't hate them. In fact, I watched X-Files and Fringe until the last season because my S.O. liked them. I just didn't enjoy them.

I do enjoy Battlestar Galactica (both versions), Caprica, Walking Dead, V (both versions), Lost, Flash Forward, The Event, Threshhold, Surface, Invasion, Sanctuary, Lost

ETA: First season of Heroes was awesome. The subsequent seasons sucked all the more because the first season was so good.

Battlestar Galactica - definitely agree'
Caprica - Haven't watched, but should be good, being a prequel to Battlestar..
Walking Dead - Nope. Didn't like the premise, and I have an aversion to anything related to Zombies, Vampires etc.
V - Haven't watched, but sounds too David Icke-ey for my liking
Lost - Never liked it, although forced to watch it on several occasions by the missus
Flash Forward - Haven't watched, but sounds like an interesting premise
The Event - Haven't watched, sounds interesting

Haven't watched the others, but this looks like a good enough list to keep me going for a while. Thanks!

aban57 wrote:But I understand why people can't get into Fringe, it's a very special tv show.

Yup. Like I mentioned in another thread, Fringe always seems to evoke extreme reactions. Fans swear by it, while others can't stand it. I count myself among the fans.

wrong thread

What was that stupid spy programme a while back? With that private spying organisation called 'Byzantium'? Hunted, that was it.

That was shit.

MacIver wrote:And although I've got nothing against Scott Bakula as an actor ...

I do. Namely, everything he is in is complete shit.

MacIver wrote:Enterprise had a lot of potential.

Indeed.

Totally wasted of course.