Re: What Genre Would You Like to See Revived/Updated?


Steven L. wrote:
> WQ wrote:
>
> > Spy shows instead of all these interchangeable generic plodding
> > procedural cop shows. And I mean the energetic/inventive kind like the
> > early Man from UNCLE and The Avengers or the more "cerebral" likes of
> > Secret Agent and The Equalizer. None of this Alias or 24 buffoonery.
>
> 9-11 and the end of the Cold War have made it harder to do an escapist
> tongue-in-cheek type of spy show that could attract a mass audience.
> The folks we're spying on these days and trying to apprehend, aren't
> very funny.

--- That's not exactly true. America was involved in Vietnam and
digging deeper into it when UNCLE and Avengers came on, along with a
slew of others at the same time. The whole social climate of the time
was also ridden with strife as well, but the tube merrily marched on
with all sort of goofy shows about witches and genies and martians,
etc., all ignoring the events of the real world, including the
assasination of a president and later his brother and Martin Luther
King. And spying on al-Qaeda is no worse than on the Russians and
Chinese, who did HAVE - and still do - nuclear weapons that they could
use BIG time. Worse things have happened than 9-11, but you may be
buying into the whole Bush-Kove propaganda that "everything's changed"
since then. Open your eyes wider and you'll see that nothing's really
changed, only the percpetions of people gullible enough to believe Bush
and his cronies. Far, far more changed in the 60s in a lot of
different measurable ways.

> > Comedy-variety shows instead of all these reality shows. Problem with
> > getting these back on is that there's no real source of potential
> > comedian hosts to draw on that have become household names in a broad
> > enough sense to successfully front these shows.
>
> Variety shows are DEFINITELY something I would like to see make a
> comeback, yes. BUT with a twist: Now that we've got global satellite
> TV, instead of inviting acts to perform on one fixed stage which is
> passe, we could show international acts occurring all over the world in
> each episode. The host could be digitally composited into any foreign
> locale where the show biz act is occurring. IOW, a variety show that
> has the format of "Connections" or "The Amazing Race"--a fast-paced
> one-hour romp around the world showing off various show biz acts.

--- That's a bit of a different idea, though somwhat patterned after
Continental Showcase, in which Jim Backus travelled throughout Europe
in search of regional acts and entertainers. But what you describe
sounds like something that could work as a big, splashy Saturday or
Sunday night hour a la Ed Sullivan. It'd just be a matter of piecing
it all together right and getting the right host for it.

> Joe Rogan is a comedian, and once Fear Factor is cancelled (which should
> happen real soon), he'll be available to host it. He's well known, and
> he's got the leering, dirty look that would enable the variety show to
> do more risque material.

--- Well, I'm not sure if he'd be right for it.

> > Westerns/War Shows. I never got into these very much when they were
> > on, but there were the odd exceptions. Still, if only for a change of
> > time landscape [everything on now is uniformly boring present-day], I
> > probably wouldn't mind seeing a few shows of each injected into the
> > networks' lineups again.
>
> We've already got Deadwood; and Over There flopped. But I hear they've
> greenlighted a pilot about military medics, maybe it's a 21st century
> "M*A*S*H," who knows.

--- Have seen Over There, haven't seen Deadwood except for clips. Over
There actually wasn't too bad, probably the only good thing Steven
Bochco has done, but it's still not quite the kind of war show I'd like
to see. Deadwood seems to be noted more for excessive expletives than
anything really western about it. Both genres are kind of hard to
figure out as to what really would work now with them, but it's also a
case of I'd know it once I see it.

> > Dramatic anthology series, whether thematic ones [sci-fi, mystery,
> > docudramas, etc.] or the potpourri variety that mixes comedy with
> > dramas.
>
> You've already got those on PBS, the Sci-fi Channel and the History
> Channel. True, they don't have the budget to do a really sprawling
> spectacular show, so maybe it could be produced jointly with a major
> network.

--- Yeah, but they seem kind of lost in the shuffle on those networks,
whereas anthologies would appear more visible if they were on any of
the Big 4.

>
> --
> Steven D. Litvintchouk
> Email: sdlitvin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: What Genre Would You Like to See Revived/Updated?
    ... Now that we've got global satellite TV, instead of inviting acts to perform on one fixed stage which is passe, we could show international acts occurring all over the world in each episode. ... Joe Rogan is a comedian, and once Fear Factor is cancelled, he'll be available to host it. ... He's well known, and he's got the leering, dirty look that would enable the variety show to do more risque material. ... True, they don't have the budget to do a really sprawling spectacular show, so maybe it could be produced jointly with a major network. ...
    (rec.arts.tv)
  • Re: America has talent. WTF
    ... I don't think any of the acts are doing anything that hasn't been "done ... one thing, be it singer, model or whatever, it becomes a variety show, ... In effect, one can watch it as a series of acts, all different from ... it is something missing from tv, that variety show. ...
    (rec.arts.tv)
  • The Bedford Experience at NAUCC
    ... be in the variety show at the Bedford Experience on Saturday July 28th ... I am looking for acts that have not been in the show before and can be ... gymnastics, etc. ...
    (rec.sport.unicycling)
  • Re: Is it possible to use IPv4 and IPv6 in a same jail?
    ... write a listening daemon that acts as a "proxy" that runs in the host? ...
    (freebsd-hackers)
  • Re: Billy Joel
    ... Drive by it almost every day and have never set foot in it. ... there are a lot of acts I'd love to see that play there. ... The Canyon Club is a GREAT venue and they host some very cool artists!!! ...
    (alt.vacation.las-vegas)