I turned off my cable months ago. If it is a series I really like, I usually just get the dvd set. If I had tivo that might take the place of doing that.
Shows I like:
House
CSI (Vegas)
Smallville
Lost
Supernatural (thanks to whoever it was here that turned me on to that)
The rest of the crap that comes on gets missed completely. I don’t know who is on American Idol and may be one of the few in the country who has never even seen an episode.
All tv shows don’t suck though. I think House was one of the better series I’d seen in a while…but I’m at least half nerd.
[quote]Horazio wrote:
…here in Italy it’s even worse : we get some american shows “revisited” for italian audience,this means that the shows are totally “watered down” !!!
so,not only we import some “stupid” shows but the exciting part of the shows are removed! WTF ?!?!?[/quote]
Haha, we Americans got a completely different version of The Office, since the British humor of the original is too subtle, apparently. We even got a redubbed version of Mad Max, since the Australian accents in the original are so strong. I know what you mean.
Give me a DVD player and an interenet connection (so I can keep up with what’s coming out when) and I’m set. Planet Earth is on DVD peoples! You don’t need Discovery channel for that.
And yes, the DVD version rocks.[/quote]
Not to mention that on the DVD version of Planet Earth, it is Sir David Attenborough himself that does the narration …an extremely respectable natural history film-maker, whereas on the TV series they ‘customized’ for the states, it was Sigourney Weaver.
One of the spanish channels has a 1-hour Zorro syndication. Don’t know what they are saying, so I can’t comment on the acting, but DAMN they know how to cast a damsel in distress.
I don’t think TV sucks at all enough to stop watching it completely. All the sitcoms suck but there are some awesome shows on. Here is a list of good shows and channels but there are times when I want to watch MTV too and laugh my ass off.
Shows I can watch all day long:
Man vs. Wild
House
Planet Earth
Daily Show
Colbert Report
Discovery Channel in general
Science Channel (before my dad removed the cable)
Maybe I missed it, but did no one mention Entourage yet? Just heard about it and downloaded the seasons…I really liked it. Aside from that, I pretty much stick to A&E (Dallas Swat is such a good show), TLC, Discovery and sports/poker.
It’s a little cheesey but I sometimes like Ghost Hunters, which is on the SciFi channel. This team of people goes to houses, hotels, etc. where people have been experiencing what they think are hauntings and sets up cameras and all kinds of equipment to either try to debunk it (a drafty window banging, a pipe constricting and making noise, etc.) or see if they catch anything out of the ordinary.
A lot of them end up being debunked as some sort of house/mechanical noises that they finally figure out, and some of them end up being just inconclusive, but once in a while they’ll catch something REALLY freaky on their videotape, like something moving around on its own.
News, History, Discovery, Science, Military channels. I don’t watch nearly as much TV as I listen to while I do something else.
The X-Files was totally kickass, but I didn’t see a single episode until after the broadcast run was over, but have seen all 9 seasons since. Lost is indeed a cool and addictive show. Also have never seen one when it was on, but have since seen em all. Firefly/Serenity had all the makings of a flat down classic. Tragic treatment from Fox.
Other than that I’ve never seen one second of the simpsons, south park, married with children, sex and the city, american idol or any other stuff like that. No interest whatsoever and American Idol never ceases to mystify me. Who gives a shit? Hell I can sing half decent on a good day. If it was actual musicians, maybe, but I’ve never seen one of those either tough it’s practically inescapable seeing some of those people if you watch the news.
Speaking of the news, I’d rather hear about hideous, violent and tragic crimes than one more #%@$%&@ word about these useless professional dumbasses like Paris Hilton.
[quote]Molotov_Coktease wrote:
Not to mention that on the DVD version of Planet Earth, it is Sir David Attenborough himself that does the narration …an extremely respectable natural history film-maker, whereas on the TV series they ‘customized’ for the states, it was Sigourney Weaver.
Sir David Attenborough = better.
[/quote]
Quite. Love the British accent and the fancier language. But you got to realize the TV version has been dumbed down for the general public… wide audience.
“And this squirly little fella is a squirrel, it lives, and eats, and sleeps…”
[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
…The X-Files was totally kickass, but I didn’t see a single episode until after the broadcast run was over, but have seen all 9 seasons since. …[/quote]
[quote]sen say wrote:
They mostly watch gay ass Disney and Nickelodeon shows. Every 8 year old on every show is interested in the opposite gender.[/quote]
You keep using that word, “gay”. I do not think it means what you think it means.
i liked the sitcoms, but they seem to be a dying breed.
HBO has a show called Curb Your Enthusiasm that i really like though. It’s like an old style sit com with day to day activities being blown out of proportion in a funny way and the show is put together well.
Some series like 24, the sopranos (r.i.p.) etc are ok.
I do like the History Channel, Discovery Channel and the sports channels too. Comedy Central isn’t bad either.
I have thought about (at times) ditching cable, but I still find enough value in it to keep it and watch TV pretty selectively:
Sports in HD. Incredibly easy to get sucked into, regardless of what is (you know, outside of ice dancing). Also, I need cable to watch all of the European soccer I am hooked on (but I am pissed none of it is in HD yet). NFL in HD is like crack.
I have found the DVR to be completely invaluable in separating out the wheat from the chaff. There’s just a ton of good programs on Discovery HD, National Geographic HD and so on.
MOJO HD. Anyone else watch this channel? It’s like an “upscale” version of Spike with some more creativity to it. It’s a guy’s channel and the show Three Sheets is reason enough to have it. Almost every episode makes me want to visit a new place on the map.
To texas guy’s point on sitcoms, I think the death of the sitcom is really due in large part to the incomprehensible popularity of reality TV. There is so little focus being placed on scripted shows, so we are getting a lot less of them and their quality is weak.
TV has never been the same since The White Shadow went off the air…
[quote]Professor X wrote:
I turned off my cable months ago. If it is a series I really like, I usually just get the dvd set. If I had tivo that might take the place of doing that.
Shows I like:
House
CSI (Vegas)
Smallville
Lost
Supernatural (thanks to whoever it was here that turned me on to that)
The rest of the crap that comes on gets missed completely. I don’t know who is on American Idol and may be one of the few in the country who has never even seen an episode.
All tv shows don’t suck though. I think House was one of the better series I’d seen in a while…but I’m at least half nerd.[/quote]
What a coincidence - I am half man and half amazing, but I digress…