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Ongoing X-Files Thread of Doom...
- Thread starter Volpone
- Start date
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Again, not actually X-Files, but I don't want to open another Thread of Doom and don't feel like pestering the Admins to change this to "The Ongoing Stuff I Watch While Eating Dinner Thread of Doom." "Fast N' Loud."
I loved "Sell This House." Entertaining show with engaging hosts that had information that was actually relevant to my career. Then the station it was on changed formats. The BBC got greedy with its licensing so Retro only has maybe half the classic "Dr. Who" stories so it's bad enough that I've already seen them all several times since they got the show, but very frustrating when half the stories--and invariably the really good ones--are missing. Quest started out as kind of Discovery Channel but somehow wound up being mostly Bering Sea Pawn Shop Hookers and Story can go down Space Alien Bigfoot Conspiracy rabbit holes sometimes. They also jerk their standard programming around fairly often. Tuesday nights are "American Restoration." half hour shows about a Las Vegas guy who restores just about any cool old stuff. But not always. Anyway, I've also made it through the entire series and the rewatchability isn't that high. It's cool to see them restore a "pennyfarthing" bicycle but once you've seen it you don't really need to watch it again. So I've wound up watching "Fast N' Loud." One minor gripe is that it's an hour show but they've got it programmed in a 2 hour bloc and every build almost always takes 2 episodes, so I sit at the TV longer than I want.
"Fast N' Loud" is a Discovery Channel reality show about a Texas hotrod shop and it is largely entertaining if somewhat formulaic. And at least a little educational if you like fixing up cars. Personally I don't agree with their strategy--lower it so it drags on the pavement and drop in a ridiculously large engine--especially when they'll take a really nice, well maintained, all original car and chuck basically everything but the sheet metal. But it obviously makes them piles of money, so who am I to second-guess.
I mention this because they wrapped the series up last night so I was eager to watch tonight and see what the first season was like (I think it was on for, like, 9 seasons). And it's wild. Everyone's so much younger and the operation is so much smaller. It's like an ordinary garage. If a build gets behind they have to go out and find some cars to flip quick to be able to cover the bills. By the end the place is huge and fancy and there are logos everywhere and a restaurant and concert venue. Monster truck, dragster, merch shop, you name it. But the first season I think some of the logos are done with iron-on transfers and the shop could be your neighbor's place down the block. It's kind of neat, seeing how far they came. One of my gripes about reality shows--even going back to "This Old House" on PBS--is the need to constantly get bigger and top yourself. I remember an early "This Old House" where Bob and Norm were showing how to install fiberglass insulation in garage walls. These days it's off to some shop that will laser cut a custom marble staircase for them or something. Well, should get going.
I loved "Sell This House." Entertaining show with engaging hosts that had information that was actually relevant to my career. Then the station it was on changed formats. The BBC got greedy with its licensing so Retro only has maybe half the classic "Dr. Who" stories so it's bad enough that I've already seen them all several times since they got the show, but very frustrating when half the stories--and invariably the really good ones--are missing. Quest started out as kind of Discovery Channel but somehow wound up being mostly Bering Sea Pawn Shop Hookers and Story can go down Space Alien Bigfoot Conspiracy rabbit holes sometimes. They also jerk their standard programming around fairly often. Tuesday nights are "American Restoration." half hour shows about a Las Vegas guy who restores just about any cool old stuff. But not always. Anyway, I've also made it through the entire series and the rewatchability isn't that high. It's cool to see them restore a "pennyfarthing" bicycle but once you've seen it you don't really need to watch it again. So I've wound up watching "Fast N' Loud." One minor gripe is that it's an hour show but they've got it programmed in a 2 hour bloc and every build almost always takes 2 episodes, so I sit at the TV longer than I want.
"Fast N' Loud" is a Discovery Channel reality show about a Texas hotrod shop and it is largely entertaining if somewhat formulaic. And at least a little educational if you like fixing up cars. Personally I don't agree with their strategy--lower it so it drags on the pavement and drop in a ridiculously large engine--especially when they'll take a really nice, well maintained, all original car and chuck basically everything but the sheet metal. But it obviously makes them piles of money, so who am I to second-guess.
I mention this because they wrapped the series up last night so I was eager to watch tonight and see what the first season was like (I think it was on for, like, 9 seasons). And it's wild. Everyone's so much younger and the operation is so much smaller. It's like an ordinary garage. If a build gets behind they have to go out and find some cars to flip quick to be able to cover the bills. By the end the place is huge and fancy and there are logos everywhere and a restaurant and concert venue. Monster truck, dragster, merch shop, you name it. But the first season I think some of the logos are done with iron-on transfers and the shop could be your neighbor's place down the block. It's kind of neat, seeing how far they came. One of my gripes about reality shows--even going back to "This Old House" on PBS--is the need to constantly get bigger and top yourself. I remember an early "This Old House" where Bob and Norm were showing how to install fiberglass insulation in garage walls. These days it's off to some shop that will laser cut a custom marble staircase for them or something. Well, should get going.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
So the syndication package for "Fast N' Loud" is more fucked up than Retro's current "Dr. Who" deal. They really didn't have any of Season 1 and it looks like we get maybe 2-4 episodes of the early seasons. They show two episodes a night and they're already to the end of Season 4 when they rebooted the cycle 2 days ago.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
God's Plan is Fucking with my OCD tendencies again this weekend. Stormy weather. Bad reception.
First, Saturday. Forget what was on Story. Oh, Bible reenactments. Not terrible, I guess, but really not my thing. So I jump to "Black Sheep Squadron." And it's the pilot (no pun intended) episode. I've seen part of it recently but only the ending. It actually looks fairly entertaining. Still hokey 1970s television but kind of entertaining. But of course then the reception goes to shit. Nothing else on. X-Files is an OK episode I've seen recently, but not tremendously rewatchable. So I write it all off and fuck off online.
Tonight Story is showing some kind of series about the '90s. And...OK. As a fairly conservative/libertarian type, I've given up on mainstream media at this point, but back in the early 2000s it was interesting because things weren't so polarized and content providers were much more subtle about their bias. After about 45 minutes I'm picking up a definite liberal bias. It's very well done. Like, back before everyone drank the Kool-Aid. They portray it as balanced. They have conservative talking heads for the segments. But everything is always slanted just a bit to the left. And the liberal pundits always get the best positioning and soundbytes. Not the biggest issue when they were talking about the rise and fall of Netscape, but the next hour was on Newt Gingrich and the House post 1994 midterm elections and 10 minutes in I'd had enough. So I start surfing.
Nova on one PBS channel and something interesting on another PBS channel too, but I do kind of like commercial breaks so I keep looking. Oh! Comet first for "X-Files." Nope. "Sharknado" again. "A-Team" on H&I. But it's a terrible Season 4 episode. Eventually I settle on "Pawn Stars" on Defy. But I'm fucked by a bad signal again. By this point Nova is over and the next show is 2 hours (with no commercials because PBS) and the other PBS thing is about Mary Queen of Scots. "Pawn Stars" is very interesting because 1) it's only a half hour and 2) it's one with a crossover to "American Restoration," where Rick Dale is fixing up a 57 Chevy for The Old Man's birthday and it's bumping against the deadline. But with the reception it's fucking unwatchable. So back to Mary, Queen of Scots. But after 15-20 minutes (and again, no commercials) it's just not that interesting. So here I sit, drinking and fucking off online.
Maybe God wanted me to tackle the 3 months of property management statements I need to slog through but fuck that. I've already worked far more than I wanted to on a Sunday. I don't feel like trying to figure out what some bookkeeper was doing in December--especially since that will likely lead me to needing to make phone calls tomorrow--but my time is no longer my own because I agreed to contract for my friend.
First, Saturday. Forget what was on Story. Oh, Bible reenactments. Not terrible, I guess, but really not my thing. So I jump to "Black Sheep Squadron." And it's the pilot (no pun intended) episode. I've seen part of it recently but only the ending. It actually looks fairly entertaining. Still hokey 1970s television but kind of entertaining. But of course then the reception goes to shit. Nothing else on. X-Files is an OK episode I've seen recently, but not tremendously rewatchable. So I write it all off and fuck off online.
Tonight Story is showing some kind of series about the '90s. And...OK. As a fairly conservative/libertarian type, I've given up on mainstream media at this point, but back in the early 2000s it was interesting because things weren't so polarized and content providers were much more subtle about their bias. After about 45 minutes I'm picking up a definite liberal bias. It's very well done. Like, back before everyone drank the Kool-Aid. They portray it as balanced. They have conservative talking heads for the segments. But everything is always slanted just a bit to the left. And the liberal pundits always get the best positioning and soundbytes. Not the biggest issue when they were talking about the rise and fall of Netscape, but the next hour was on Newt Gingrich and the House post 1994 midterm elections and 10 minutes in I'd had enough. So I start surfing.
Nova on one PBS channel and something interesting on another PBS channel too, but I do kind of like commercial breaks so I keep looking. Oh! Comet first for "X-Files." Nope. "Sharknado" again. "A-Team" on H&I. But it's a terrible Season 4 episode. Eventually I settle on "Pawn Stars" on Defy. But I'm fucked by a bad signal again. By this point Nova is over and the next show is 2 hours (with no commercials because PBS) and the other PBS thing is about Mary Queen of Scots. "Pawn Stars" is very interesting because 1) it's only a half hour and 2) it's one with a crossover to "American Restoration," where Rick Dale is fixing up a 57 Chevy for The Old Man's birthday and it's bumping against the deadline. But with the reception it's fucking unwatchable. So back to Mary, Queen of Scots. But after 15-20 minutes (and again, no commercials) it's just not that interesting. So here I sit, drinking and fucking off online.
Maybe God wanted me to tackle the 3 months of property management statements I need to slog through but fuck that. I've already worked far more than I wanted to on a Sunday. I don't feel like trying to figure out what some bookkeeper was doing in December--especially since that will likely lead me to needing to make phone calls tomorrow--but my time is no longer my own because I agreed to contract for my friend.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Comet finally ditched "Sharknado" for "Terminator 2: Judgement Day." Came in for the 2nd half and almost watched it but there was a thing on dinosaur archaeology on Story that didn't suck. After that was some Soviet human-gorilla hybrid mystery garbage so I popped back to Comet for "X Files" and they were playing T2 a second time. I really don't have 2 hours to blow tonight (and as I see that it's been 2 hours and we haven't even attacked the Cyberdyne Lab, I realize it's 3 hours) but I haven't seen it in forever.
It really does hold up. It's a bit like watching Shakespeare or something, where at first the late 80s/early 90s aesthetic is a bit jarring, but once you acclimate, you don't notice it. And the movie is top notch. Really convincing practical effects, some of the earliest convincing (mostly) CGI effects. Neat.
It really does hold up. It's a bit like watching Shakespeare or something, where at first the late 80s/early 90s aesthetic is a bit jarring, but once you acclimate, you don't notice it. And the movie is top notch. Really convincing practical effects, some of the earliest convincing (mostly) CGI effects. Neat.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Oh, a few more thoughts on T2: First off, the future the time travelers come from is 2029. WW3 happens in 1997. More interestingly, the movie isn't set in the present, it's set in the near future. "Terminator" happens in 1984, ending with a pregnant Sarah Connor. When theT1000 checks the police computer, John Connor is 10. Which puts the events in the movie around 1995 or so, but the movie came out in 1991.
Colonel Kira's Left Tit
Bearded Belly of Bajor
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
The magician episode last night. Later episode but still has Mulder. Somewhat lighthearted and comedic. Atrocious 90s television budget CGI and plot holes you can drive a truck through. So basically a level of entertainment you'd expect from "The X-files."
Hack magician is doing shows for cash at a local amusement park. To silence a heckler he turns his head around 360 degrees. A few minutes later, when his park handler comes back to the magician's van to give him his cash he finds him apparently asleep--only to have his head come tumbling off. Roll opening credits. Spoilers follow--if it is possible to spoil a 26 year old TV episode.
Mulder drags Scully in because he thinks it's an X-file while Scully leans toward it being a murder. They track down the heckler, who turns out to also be a magician. Next they learn that the magician was fleeing bad gambling debts from a pretty shady character. Upon autopsy, Scully finds the headless magician had died of a heart attack perhaps a month earlier and that his head was carefully sawed off and then glued back in place with spirit gum. Also that the magician has an identical twin brother who works at a bank. They visit him and find his neck in a brace. Turns out he was also a magician and had done an act with his brother before they had a falling out. Mulder suspects the banker brother is actually the dead magician, who has done a switch to escape his gambling debts. Catch being that the banker turns out to be in a wheelchair after losing both legs in the accident that caused the neck brace.
Some other twists and turns happen but long story short, the 2 magicians are in cahoots because the heckler magician has an axe to grind with the shady character the other magician owed money to so they get themselves both arrested so they can have the alibi that they were in jail the night they robbed the bank and then hid where it would easily be found with the shady character. Mulder and Scully have figured this out but don't have any evidence so they let them go only--PLOT TWIST--Mulder also realized they'd stolen his identity so that they could clean out the bank with an electronic fund transfer. Earlier we learned that if you have an FBI badge number and the thumbprint of an FBI agent you can access a bank terminal to transfer funds (don't ask, it's the X-Files) and with magic tricks done by the magicians earlier in the episode, they've gained Mulder's badge number and have his thumbprint on a playing card. How do you use a thumbprint on a playing card to trigger a thumbprint scanner? Don't ask, it's the X-Files. Luckily Mulder figured this all out and foiled the future crime--but apparently is still willing to let the 2 magicians get away, bury the dead banker brother under then name of the dead magician, and let someone go to jail for a bank robbery they didn't commit. Oh, and how did the magician spin his head around 360 degrees in front of a live audience while being videotaped? Don't ask, it's the X-Files. (But if you must ask, bad CGI.)
So yeah, all told, a fun way to kill an hour but it isn't fucking "Citizen Kane."
Hack magician is doing shows for cash at a local amusement park. To silence a heckler he turns his head around 360 degrees. A few minutes later, when his park handler comes back to the magician's van to give him his cash he finds him apparently asleep--only to have his head come tumbling off. Roll opening credits. Spoilers follow--if it is possible to spoil a 26 year old TV episode.
Mulder drags Scully in because he thinks it's an X-file while Scully leans toward it being a murder. They track down the heckler, who turns out to also be a magician. Next they learn that the magician was fleeing bad gambling debts from a pretty shady character. Upon autopsy, Scully finds the headless magician had died of a heart attack perhaps a month earlier and that his head was carefully sawed off and then glued back in place with spirit gum. Also that the magician has an identical twin brother who works at a bank. They visit him and find his neck in a brace. Turns out he was also a magician and had done an act with his brother before they had a falling out. Mulder suspects the banker brother is actually the dead magician, who has done a switch to escape his gambling debts. Catch being that the banker turns out to be in a wheelchair after losing both legs in the accident that caused the neck brace.
Some other twists and turns happen but long story short, the 2 magicians are in cahoots because the heckler magician has an axe to grind with the shady character the other magician owed money to so they get themselves both arrested so they can have the alibi that they were in jail the night they robbed the bank and then hid where it would easily be found with the shady character. Mulder and Scully have figured this out but don't have any evidence so they let them go only--PLOT TWIST--Mulder also realized they'd stolen his identity so that they could clean out the bank with an electronic fund transfer. Earlier we learned that if you have an FBI badge number and the thumbprint of an FBI agent you can access a bank terminal to transfer funds (don't ask, it's the X-Files) and with magic tricks done by the magicians earlier in the episode, they've gained Mulder's badge number and have his thumbprint on a playing card. How do you use a thumbprint on a playing card to trigger a thumbprint scanner? Don't ask, it's the X-Files. Luckily Mulder figured this all out and foiled the future crime--but apparently is still willing to let the 2 magicians get away, bury the dead banker brother under then name of the dead magician, and let someone go to jail for a bank robbery they didn't commit. Oh, and how did the magician spin his head around 360 degrees in front of a live audience while being videotaped? Don't ask, it's the X-Files. (But if you must ask, bad CGI.)
So yeah, all told, a fun way to kill an hour but it isn't fucking "Citizen Kane."
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Oh, forgot to mention, I think they used actual magicians to play the magicians. Some of the tricks were CGI and camera trickery but they also took plenty of time to do some actual close magic with coins and cups and balls and such. It was fun and entertaining and the magicians did a serviceable job acting the characters.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Well, I was going to rant about non-X-Files things but this thread has become even more misnamed. Popping onto my local channel to see if it's "X-Files" or a movie. Or a T-1000 X-Files. It's none. It's "Comet has not renewed their contract with us. Stay tuned for future programming." So no more X-Files in the foreseeable future.
Dr. Who is pretty much dead on Retro too. Bad enough that they gutted the episode rotation, but now it's only on Saturday from 4-6.
Then there's... A lot of this is because DABL changed from a DiY channel to UPN 1990s black reruns. I miss my "Sell This House". Anyway, I increasingly embraced "Fast n' Loud" on Defy. Buildin' hot rods. I think there's fucking 10 seasons of episodes. So why do they only show the same half dozen episodes over and over and over and over? There was a "Fast n' Loud" marathon where they showed the Kyle Bush Pantera racecar episode. I didn't stick around long enough to see if they did the Hot Wheels Corvette, the Brady Bunch station wagon, the Bullitt Mustang and the other few episodes they seem to rerun over and over and over and over.
THEN there's Story. History reruns. Generally pretty good. But they had this bit where they did documentaries with historical reenactments interspersed and... Overall they're pretty good. But the casting and costuming is abysmal. Like, local community theater bad. They show the actor. Then they show a few portraits of the person they're playing. And they look nothing like him. It's like they saw the janitor and said "Hey! We need a General Burgoyne. You're a middle aged white man and you look about the right size for the costumes we've rented. Slap on this Spirit Halloween grandma wig and we'll start shooting."
Had a thing on about Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. And I guess at least they get credit for not making Hamilton Mexican. But I digress. The point is, they had Richard Dreyfuss host it. And--for whatever reason--he randomly switches between a sportcoat and a tie to a polo shirt throughout the show. Eventually he winds up in a sportcoat with a polo shirt. It is bewildering. Fuck, History. Would it kill you to find actors that actually look like the person they're playing? Barring that, at least doing hair and makeup to make them look like their portraits. I'm stuck going "OK. Kevin Nealon is Aaron Burr and Roger Daltry is Alexander Hamilton." And you could, maybe, make Roger Daltry and Kevin Nealon look like Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, but it woud probably involve makeup and restyling their hair instead of just going "here, throw on this frock coat and let's start shooting."
History casting and costuming weird Richard Dreyfuss
Dr. Who is pretty much dead on Retro too. Bad enough that they gutted the episode rotation, but now it's only on Saturday from 4-6.
Then there's... A lot of this is because DABL changed from a DiY channel to UPN 1990s black reruns. I miss my "Sell This House". Anyway, I increasingly embraced "Fast n' Loud" on Defy. Buildin' hot rods. I think there's fucking 10 seasons of episodes. So why do they only show the same half dozen episodes over and over and over and over? There was a "Fast n' Loud" marathon where they showed the Kyle Bush Pantera racecar episode. I didn't stick around long enough to see if they did the Hot Wheels Corvette, the Brady Bunch station wagon, the Bullitt Mustang and the other few episodes they seem to rerun over and over and over and over.
THEN there's Story. History reruns. Generally pretty good. But they had this bit where they did documentaries with historical reenactments interspersed and... Overall they're pretty good. But the casting and costuming is abysmal. Like, local community theater bad. They show the actor. Then they show a few portraits of the person they're playing. And they look nothing like him. It's like they saw the janitor and said "Hey! We need a General Burgoyne. You're a middle aged white man and you look about the right size for the costumes we've rented. Slap on this Spirit Halloween grandma wig and we'll start shooting."
Had a thing on about Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. And I guess at least they get credit for not making Hamilton Mexican. But I digress. The point is, they had Richard Dreyfuss host it. And--for whatever reason--he randomly switches between a sportcoat and a tie to a polo shirt throughout the show. Eventually he winds up in a sportcoat with a polo shirt. It is bewildering. Fuck, History. Would it kill you to find actors that actually look like the person they're playing? Barring that, at least doing hair and makeup to make them look like their portraits. I'm stuck going "OK. Kevin Nealon is Aaron Burr and Roger Daltry is Alexander Hamilton." And you could, maybe, make Roger Daltry and Kevin Nealon look like Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, but it woud probably involve makeup and restyling their hair instead of just going "here, throw on this frock coat and let's start shooting."
History casting and costuming weird Richard Dreyfuss
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
I will say that it is possible that someone could do a decent remake of "The Maltese Falcon." It would be challenging, because it's such a well done movie, but possible. You can't remake "Casablanca." Bogey, Bergman, Sam. The fact that so many of the actors were actually refugees from the Nazis. It's lightning in a bottle.
Colonel Kira's Left Tit
Bearded Belly of Bajor
Yeah. Generally I don't care for remakes, but there are some things that can't or shouldn't be revamped. These are two of them.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Oh! I remembered the other thing(s). Costuming. Sets. Samuel T. Cogley as Wilmar the gunsel. Hats. Fedoras and blocking. I do Dr. Who--referring to Tom Baker, #4 in this case--and Indiana Jones. Both wear basically a brown fedora called a "poet", but it is blocked radically different. The Doctor's brown "Poet" fedora is blocked in what some call a "Tom Mix bash." Shape isn't that important but it is lower in the front than the back with a deep split down the middle. The Indy blocking is more involved. And I should mention this really only pertains to "Raiders..." Later films with different costumers, they just stuck a hat on Ford and called it good, but there's very specific blocking to the "Raiders..." fedora. It very much has a "stovepipe" block, where the felt crown does not narrow down as it nears the top. Actually it almost widens. Took a metal form, a lot of water and a fair amount of stretching to get my Indy hat about right. The Indy fedora is also markedly taller at the front than the back (the Tom Mix/Tom Baker hat is just the opposite). The final notable thing about the Indy hat is...how to explain it? The traditional fedora has a kind of bowl/caldera at the top. The Indy fedora is more...vagina shaped. It's got a slit that goes from top to back.
This last trait is not present in "The Maltese Falcon," but other than that, the hats track closely to Indy blocking. They have a crown that is higher in the front than in the back. The film is set around...1943? Trying to do the math as the story unfolds. I think the movie was made before "Casablana" so it seems like it should be earlier. "Raiders..." is 1936. Indy is from California. So it is a testament to "Raiders..." costumer Debra Nadoolman's attention to detail that Indy's iconic fedora has a '30s & '40s California look to it.
This last trait is not present in "The Maltese Falcon," but other than that, the hats track closely to Indy blocking. They have a crown that is higher in the front than in the back. The film is set around...1943? Trying to do the math as the story unfolds. I think the movie was made before "Casablana" so it seems like it should be earlier. "Raiders..." is 1936. Indy is from California. So it is a testament to "Raiders..." costumer Debra Nadoolman's attention to detail that Indy's iconic fedora has a '30s & '40s California look to it.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
I watch more reality TV reruns than I'd like. And it interests me, now much of it is reality and how much of it is entertainment. There's one called "Lizard Lick Towing" that is basically pro rasslin'. It is completely fictional. I accidentally watched 5 minutes of it once and enough things happened that it was obvious the entire plot was staged. Then you get into the more ambiguous ones--Dog Bounty Hunter, Pawn Stars, Gene Simmons: Family Jewels.
I mention this because last night the subplot on Pawn Stars was that a 200 year old vase was mysteriously broken and it just so happened that there was perfect security camera footage of Chumley, horsing around with a Klingon Bat'leth and knocking it off a table in the warehouse. There was another end credit of him destroying a sort of ski-ball game by "accidentally" throwing the ball at the glass backpiece instead of rolling it on the playing surface. That one was straight-up filmed by the camera crew. Or the Gene Simmons run where he gets plastic surgery so he spends several episodes bandaged up. He overdoes it instead of resting and jeopardizes everything so he's resting the next episode but his kids talk him into flying to Colorado. There he finds out the friend his daughter went skiiing with is a boy, not a girl, so he rushes off and rents some skis to go be nosey and then crashes, trying to ski back down--with a camera crew conveniently there. I suspect things like that are scripted for entertainment value. We never actually *see* the "200 year old vase" Chumley breaks. And for all we know the bandages are all faked for Simmons. If he was really recovering from plastic surgery I feel like someone would've prevented him from going skiing--even if it makes for entertaining television--especially given how Sonny Bono died. Ah well. Back to work.
I mention this because last night the subplot on Pawn Stars was that a 200 year old vase was mysteriously broken and it just so happened that there was perfect security camera footage of Chumley, horsing around with a Klingon Bat'leth and knocking it off a table in the warehouse. There was another end credit of him destroying a sort of ski-ball game by "accidentally" throwing the ball at the glass backpiece instead of rolling it on the playing surface. That one was straight-up filmed by the camera crew. Or the Gene Simmons run where he gets plastic surgery so he spends several episodes bandaged up. He overdoes it instead of resting and jeopardizes everything so he's resting the next episode but his kids talk him into flying to Colorado. There he finds out the friend his daughter went skiiing with is a boy, not a girl, so he rushes off and rents some skis to go be nosey and then crashes, trying to ski back down--with a camera crew conveniently there. I suspect things like that are scripted for entertainment value. We never actually *see* the "200 year old vase" Chumley breaks. And for all we know the bandages are all faked for Simmons. If he was really recovering from plastic surgery I feel like someone would've prevented him from going skiing--even if it makes for entertaining television--especially given how Sonny Bono died. Ah well. Back to work.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
OK. Good article on "Pawn Stars": https://www.looper.com/1507332/proof-pawn-stars-is-totally-fake/
Nothing comparable on "Family Jewels," but it sounds about the same.
Even books. Just re-read "The Smartest Guys in the Room" about Enron. And it is biographical, factual. But...you always have to wonder, to what degree the authors are couching things to make an interesting and readable story. You need good guys. You need bad guys. You need a progression of events to the climax. So even in truth there's a bit of fiction because the writer is trying to sell books.
Nothing comparable on "Family Jewels," but it sounds about the same.
Even books. Just re-read "The Smartest Guys in the Room" about Enron. And it is biographical, factual. But...you always have to wonder, to what degree the authors are couching things to make an interesting and readable story. You need good guys. You need bad guys. You need a progression of events to the climax. So even in truth there's a bit of fiction because the writer is trying to sell books.
Colonel Kira's Left Tit
Bearded Belly of Bajor
I don't much watch reality shows, but I have seen Lisa Whelchel (aka Blair from Facts of Life) do that weird hoarder/collector show, and that's pretty cool because I'm pretty sure she's one of the first people I ever jerked off to. I guess she's some sort of religious nut or something, but nobody's perfect.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
The problem over the air digital channels is getting for me is it's all reruns. And its all reruns I've seen. Or they change formats or something. Hence an "X-Files" thread where I'm about to talk about "Gunsmoke."
But first I must blather. [blather]It started with Dabl. No, it started with "Dr. Who," but we'll get to that. Dabl was a DiY channel and they had "Sell This House" on weekends at dinnertime. I could watch that the way a toddler watches "Frozen." I could watch an episode I'd seen 8 times and still enjoy it. But then they changed formats. Now it is '90s black sitcoms. "Martin." "Moesha." If that's your thing, great. If that makes them money, great, but it isn't my thing and I don't really understand...yes I do, the company that owns them owns all the sitcoms so it is basically free for them to show them. But I digress. Then there's Dr. Who. First RetroTV lost its local channel. Eventually another station picked it up, but at this point the BBC has gotten so greedy with their licensing deal that they show maybe half of the stories--if that. "Dr. Who" isn't *that* linear (actually it was quite a bit in the early days, but I digress), but even so, it's jarring when Tom Baker's first season doesn't have "Genesis of the Daleks." They got to keep the weak stories like "Planet of Evil" and lost good ones like "The Brain of Morbius." Then Comet lost BSG. Then the local station lost Comet so I didn't even get "X-Files" and that about ends the screed.
No, the problem is, even with long-running series like "Fast 'N Loud," they have stupid licensing deals...like the one Retro has with the BBC--see!? My rables DO have a point. There's, like, I dunno, a decade of "Fast 'N Loud." 6 years of "Gene Simmons: Family Jewels." And they play the same fucking 12 episodes OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER. The first time "Fast 'N Loud" wrapped around, I was excited, because it was going to be fun to see the early episodes, where they were stuggling a bit and things were simpler. But no, they had maybe 1 or 2 early eps and then it was right into the late stuff after Aaron left. I mean, I like Mike Coy and I like a lot about the later episodes, but how many times can you watch them built the Gary Sinese Foundation Jeep and the Kurt Busch Pantera? How many times can you watch Sophie's Sweet 16 birthday? (OK, I can watch that almost as much as "Sell This House". Almost.) Even "Pawn Stars," which shows a pretty decent run of all the episodes, it's gotten so there's a decent chance that I've seen an episode. Which brings me to "Gunsmoke." [/blather]
"Gunsmoke" was on FOREVER. It started as a *radio show*. They were still showing new episodes when I was a kid. They even did a few TV movies as late as the...80s? 90s? The sweet spot, for me, is the early 60s episodes. Still black & white, but hour long (the early episodes were only a half hour). Excellent cast, and in those days Matt and Miss Kitty were still hot. Morally ambiguous morality stories. Good stuff. (I wonder if somehow the black & white works better for me than the 1970s color--makes the soundstages look more convincing, etc...anyhow...) Neat supporting characters too. Young, young Burt Reynolds as a bit of a bad boy half-breed deputy/associate of Matt's. Pre-"McCloud" Dennis Weaver as the comic relief deputy. Fun fact: James Arness is a physically imposing man and Dennis Weaver was almost as tall so the producers decided to give Chester a limp to help keep him from upstaging Matt. Festus was my Barney Fife to Matt's Andy, but I gotta say he was a little too formulaic as the sidekick. Chester was better. Or better still, the eps with Burt, where Matt's help doesn't have to be a good-hearted simpleton.
I guess that's all I have to say on that subject. I will add that alcohol is sneaky. Quitting for 40 days or so was a big help in readjusting my system, but it's still easy for me to want one cocktail and then decide another one would be better than switching to ginger ale or iced tea and next thing you know, I'm waking up with a headache. But that's good, I guess. This time last year I would regularly go through a bottle of Wild Turkey every week, be 20# heavier and NOT wake up with a headache.
But first I must blather. [blather]It started with Dabl. No, it started with "Dr. Who," but we'll get to that. Dabl was a DiY channel and they had "Sell This House" on weekends at dinnertime. I could watch that the way a toddler watches "Frozen." I could watch an episode I'd seen 8 times and still enjoy it. But then they changed formats. Now it is '90s black sitcoms. "Martin." "Moesha." If that's your thing, great. If that makes them money, great, but it isn't my thing and I don't really understand...yes I do, the company that owns them owns all the sitcoms so it is basically free for them to show them. But I digress. Then there's Dr. Who. First RetroTV lost its local channel. Eventually another station picked it up, but at this point the BBC has gotten so greedy with their licensing deal that they show maybe half of the stories--if that. "Dr. Who" isn't *that* linear (actually it was quite a bit in the early days, but I digress), but even so, it's jarring when Tom Baker's first season doesn't have "Genesis of the Daleks." They got to keep the weak stories like "Planet of Evil" and lost good ones like "The Brain of Morbius." Then Comet lost BSG. Then the local station lost Comet so I didn't even get "X-Files" and that about ends the screed.
No, the problem is, even with long-running series like "Fast 'N Loud," they have stupid licensing deals...like the one Retro has with the BBC--see!? My rables DO have a point. There's, like, I dunno, a decade of "Fast 'N Loud." 6 years of "Gene Simmons: Family Jewels." And they play the same fucking 12 episodes OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER. The first time "Fast 'N Loud" wrapped around, I was excited, because it was going to be fun to see the early episodes, where they were stuggling a bit and things were simpler. But no, they had maybe 1 or 2 early eps and then it was right into the late stuff after Aaron left. I mean, I like Mike Coy and I like a lot about the later episodes, but how many times can you watch them built the Gary Sinese Foundation Jeep and the Kurt Busch Pantera? How many times can you watch Sophie's Sweet 16 birthday? (OK, I can watch that almost as much as "Sell This House". Almost.) Even "Pawn Stars," which shows a pretty decent run of all the episodes, it's gotten so there's a decent chance that I've seen an episode. Which brings me to "Gunsmoke." [/blather]
"Gunsmoke" was on FOREVER. It started as a *radio show*. They were still showing new episodes when I was a kid. They even did a few TV movies as late as the...80s? 90s? The sweet spot, for me, is the early 60s episodes. Still black & white, but hour long (the early episodes were only a half hour). Excellent cast, and in those days Matt and Miss Kitty were still hot. Morally ambiguous morality stories. Good stuff. (I wonder if somehow the black & white works better for me than the 1970s color--makes the soundstages look more convincing, etc...anyhow...) Neat supporting characters too. Young, young Burt Reynolds as a bit of a bad boy half-breed deputy/associate of Matt's. Pre-"McCloud" Dennis Weaver as the comic relief deputy. Fun fact: James Arness is a physically imposing man and Dennis Weaver was almost as tall so the producers decided to give Chester a limp to help keep him from upstaging Matt. Festus was my Barney Fife to Matt's Andy, but I gotta say he was a little too formulaic as the sidekick. Chester was better. Or better still, the eps with Burt, where Matt's help doesn't have to be a good-hearted simpleton.
I guess that's all I have to say on that subject. I will add that alcohol is sneaky. Quitting for 40 days or so was a big help in readjusting my system, but it's still easy for me to want one cocktail and then decide another one would be better than switching to ginger ale or iced tea and next thing you know, I'm waking up with a headache. But that's good, I guess. This time last year I would regularly go through a bottle of Wild Turkey every week, be 20# heavier and NOT wake up with a headache.