Every time I turn on the TV, I can't help but notice the theme is always crime or murder or some kind of drama. It's gri
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crashdummy35 — 10 years ago(March 22, 2016 11:01 PM)
The Twilight Zone is poor, highly unimaginative programming that too-often depends on cheap plot twists. It rarely tells stories of any real dramatic or intellectual substance.
Yet after over 42 thousand votes it's sitting at a 9 rating. -
LucusNon — 10 years ago(February 29, 2016 04:40 AM)
Yes, but not nearly as serious and heavy.
For its time,
The Defenders (1961)
could qualify as "serious" and thought-provoking ("tackling issues headfirst that other shows wouldn't even mention," as one review said)./board/10054531/reviews
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doug65oh — 9 years ago(August 29, 2016 08:21 PM)
Funny you should mention
The Defenders
. I actually bought the first season dvds a few weeks back from Amazon and am about to settle in for a first look at "The Quality Of Mercy," which incidentally was directed by
Twilight Zone
alum Buzz Kulik. (I'm also fully expecting a figurative kick in the teeth owing to the subject matter.) -
grizzledgeezer — 10 years ago(February 29, 2016 04:48 AM)
I guess I'll have to repeat myself you haven't seen
Gunsmoke
.
The
only
difference between
Gunsmoke
and
Breaking Bad
is that the latter is more graphic. Except for the scene in which Walter White murders a room full of people with a machine gun, there's nothing in
Breaking Bad
to top
Gunsmoke
.
You can easily find episodes in which three or four people are shot down on-camera. Psychopathic cowboys drag Chester behind a horse. The leader of a group of hunters kills one of his men (so he won't have to pay him) by shoving his face in a bowl of molten lead. Two elderly brothers decide to rid the West of evil by killing as many Indians as they can. (This is a comic episode.)
Both Marshall Dillon and Festus Haggen commit murder. Rape is not unheard-of (though the word is never used, and the "event" is often described euphemistically). In "Hostage!", Miss Kitty is kidnapped, raped, and then shot twice in front of the town. Ken Curtis (Festus) considered this acceptable family viewing. -
SilentNightDeadlyNight2807 — 10 years ago(February 29, 2016 05:36 AM)
I HAVE seen Gunsmoke, what makes you think I haven't? What I mean is, tv now has a much gloomier atmosphere to it. I can't explain what it is, but I find them utterly un-enjoyable. Is that such a crime?
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SilentNightDeadlyNight2807 — 10 years ago(February 29, 2016 06:24 PM)
Most modern programs are fanciful garbage, far from realistic. Another thing that bothers me about films and tv now is how quick they flash from one camera angle to the next, you can hardly tell what's going on.
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grizzledgeezer — 10 years ago(March 01, 2016 07:00 AM)
And
Donna Reed
is realistic?
I agree that cutting has become very quick, to the point where it's annoying. Sometimes it's so fast that you don't have a chance to properly take in what whipped by too quickly. -
Jennie_Portrait — 10 years ago(February 29, 2016 08:00 PM)
I've never liked Gunsmoke. It's odd how it really didn't make the effort to develop the main characters at all. The show was exclusively plot-driven and, in a single hour, the "guest stars" had more character development than the main characters.
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PrometheusTree64 — 10 years ago(March 01, 2016 10:26 AM)
I've never liked Gunsmoke. It's odd how it really didn't make the effort to develop the main characters at all. The show was exclusively plot-driven and, in a single hour, the "guest stars" had more character development than the main characters.
That was actually the complaint of the GUNSMOKE actors once the show went to an hour length: the show shifted into a semi-anthology, at least much of the time, with the guest stars heavily featured and the core cast sitting around the LongBranch here and there discussing the guest stars' predicament, and Marshal Dillon riding up in time to say "hold it!" BANG! just before the episode ended.
Probably, because that was fairly well executed, the change permitted GUNSMOKE to run as long as it did, extending its lifespan by many years.
Still, many people missed the original four-people-against-the-world structure of the original, half-hour version of GUNSMOKE (often
still
retitled "Marshal Dillon" in many markets). But even those were so truncated, so short, that little in the way of character development was possible either.
And once they shifted to a full hour, they shifted away from the principles.
I'm OK with that, but I can see why people weren't and aren't.
LBJ's mistress on JFK: -
grizzledgeezer — 10 years ago(March 01, 2016 10:39 AM)
You're right that
Gunsmoke
lost a lot of its focus on the "family" at the center of the stories. (Gene Roddenberry said this "familial" organization was an influence on
Star Trek
.)
But I don't see "character development" as being part of
Gunsmoke
's story telling. At the end of the series, Matt, Doc, and Kitty aren't much different than they were two decades earlier. Only Festus shows any change, and it's not huge. -
PrometheusTree64 — 10 years ago(March 01, 2016 06:22 PM)
But I don't see "character development" as being part of Gunsmoke's story telling. At the end of the series, Matt, Doc, and Kitty aren't much different than they were two decades earlier.
Yeah, that's what we're saying.
LBJ's mistress on JFK: -
Jennie_Portrait — 10 years ago(March 01, 2016 07:15 PM)
I think a certain amount of character development is important for people to stick with a series. Consider
Law & Order
, which is almost entirely plot driven. And yet, we do feel a sense of connection with the characters. We get snippets of their back stories with most episodes. The show is not
about
the characters, and yet our feelings about them make us more interested in returning to the show.
PrometheusTree64 - thanks for the comment about
Gunsmoke's
change of orientation. I have never seen the 1/2 hour episodes. I only started to watch the show in 1970. I was kind of indifferent about it for the reasons cited above. -
PrometheusTree64 — 10 years ago(March 03, 2016 06:15 AM)
Interestingly, GUNSMOKE and LAW & ORDER are tied for longest-running, live action, Americian, primetime, scripted TV series at 20 seasons. (You have to say "live action" now that THE SIMPSONS has been on for 27 years).
LBJ's mistress on JFK: -
canadazbest — 9 years ago(October 12, 2016 01:59 AM)
Hey,
Jennie- just came across this thread tonight. regarding your
Law & Order
commentI've watched that show since it's premiere air date in Sept 1990 and I've seen every episode of the original show, and L&O/SVU (I saw 1 ep of "Criminal Intent" and hated Vincent D'Onofrio's guts within the first 10 minutes!!).I watch SVU these days out of my fondness for Mariska Hargitay, but I don't think I'll ever forgive Dick Wolf (like he caresHA HA!HA!!) for the hateful storyline that led to the exit/death of ADA Claire Kincaid - while truly one of the best "shocking season ending moment" of any show I've ever seen, all the other "cliffhangers" had the gd common courtesy in the following season premiere to EXPLAIN/JUSTIFY/AT LEAST FREAKIN' COMMENT on such a huge moment from 6 months before..but NOT. ONE. WORD. WAS. EVER. SAID. ABOUT. CLAIRE - EVER.
(what's that? hold a grudge? MOI? nah..just a long memory, and Jill Hennessy's a compatriot, lol!)
Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought an idiot - than to open it and remove all doubt!
- just came across this thread tonight. regarding your