DSP's TV Thread (with J.E. Magee) [OT]

by **MarkdlV** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 20:24:59

I'm hoping that Friday Night Lights gets a lot of viewers over the summer with DVD sales. I don't know why more people aren't watching 30 Rock.

by **TenuredVulture** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 20:36:42

Wizlah wrote:so, I'm going to wander completely away from paranoia and robots (and would you believe I've not seen a complete series of BSG yet? I caught one or two episodes of the first series and couldn't really get into it. My arse is sore with kicking myself) and say I just saw the first part of a very thought-provoking documentary called The Trap: What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom.

I say this only because it was on BBC 2, so is likely to get sold abroad, and is very much in the same territory as The Fog of War - ideas of the 40s and 50s ground in the ideas of rational behaviour and systems and how they come to be applied within modern western society. It focuses on the cold war, Nash's Equilibrium, game theory and how this fed into late 50s/early 60s development of rational economic man, then switches to RD Laing and his use of game theory to assess families and society, then back to Buchanan and Public choice, then back to Laing, his views on psychiatry as a system and the assault on Psychiatry, then on to Margaret Thatcher and the privatisation of the National Health Service. It's directed by a guy called Adam Curtis

And yeah, I know that all sounds really dry, but we're all baseball fans here, and as such we live by measurable outputs in terms of stats, because we cannot model/predict what goes on inside the average players head. I remember the first time I read about game theory at college, my first thought was its applicability to the duel between pitcher and hitter. It's a fascinating overview of those ideas. You may not agree with the theme of the documentary (I do, myself) that some of the assumptions at the base of these models are fundamentally flawed, but it still makes compelling viewing - the interviews used are very concise and to the point - they really don't make the likes of Hayek, Buchanan, even Laing come across as whackos, even though the director disagrees with many of their points of view - and the director has a great grasp of the use of footage to make his point.

Plus at one point he slipped in the music from Assault on Precinct 13 and I nearly wet myself laughing.

And the more I think about it, it's maybe not that removed from Cylons and paranoia. I dunno. If you get the chance to see it, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Based on your description, I'm now looking forward to being able to see that movie. These are issues I've been thinking about for some time. Does the movie mention Isaiah Berlin at all? It sounds like he's lurking in all this. I've been reading some mid-century political theory (Lippmann, Oakeshott, Schumpeter) and one thing I've picked up especially among the conservatives was a very palpable anxiety that something very, very bad was happening. In an odd way, Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem and the work of Habermas also touches on this theme from a different point on the political compass.

by **dsp** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 21:21:47

Laexile wrote:
dsp wrote:looks good. 30 rock, fnl and knights are great. they deserve second shots.

I hope you're right.

just quoting some abc execs. they do really like the show, but the low ratings do have to count for something.

by **dajafi** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 13:20:46

Was John Cusack Baltar's first lawyer on Battlestar last night? I think yes, my wife insists no.

by **VoxOrion** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 13:32:53

It was not John Cusack.

Last nights episode was good. Apollo is back to being the traitorous (and preposterous) d-bag his character has always been, and the series is clearly showing signs of knowing what it's doing.

The replacement lawyer was fantastic - every time he was on screen I was waiting for something to blow up, or for him to pull a gun, or some other insanity to occur.

Its amazing how bad the screwed themselves by hastily rewriting the middle of the season.

by **dajafi** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 13:37:19

VoxOrion wrote:It was not John Cusack.

Last nights episode was good. Apollo is back to being the traitorous (and preposterous) d-bag his character has always been, and the series is clearly showing signs of knowing what it's doing.

The replacement lawyer was fantastic - every time he was on screen I was waiting for something to blow up, or for him to pull a gun, or some other insanity to occur.

Its amazing how bad the screwed themselves by hastily rewriting the middle of the season.

Last night's episode is sitting strangely with me. I thought the second lawyer was tremendous--easily the most interesting character they've introduced at least since the Dean Stockwell Cylon. And they handled the aftermath of Starbuck's death (maybe that should be in quotes?) pretty well. But the whole notion of Lee's going against Daddy because he reeeelly wants to be a lawyer like Gramps just seems preposterous to me. And the scenes with Sharon/Athena served only to remind me how little they've done with that character since the "Cylon plague" story arc.

FWIW, the last two of the season are reputedly superb. And I certainly liked last night's better than the one last week. So maybe there's hope.

by **VoxOrion** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 13:55:49

I don't find this turn by Apollo to be out of character though - the reasoning (to be like the star of the never going to happen Caprica TV show) may be lame - but the entire series, until recently, is about him doing absolutely ridiculous things that would get any military officer of his rank either executed or imprisoned just to spite his Daddy. It's just par for the course.

It's actually pretty weak writing, if you think about it - but they've gotten away with it before, I suspect they'll get away with it again.

by **Laexile** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 14:12:29

dsp wrote:
Laexile wrote:
dsp wrote:looks good. 30 rock, fnl and knights are great. they deserve second shots.

I hope you're right.

just quoting some abc execs. they do really like the show, but the low ratings do have to count for something.

The word I got from my friend that he got from the producers who got it from the ABC execs wasn't as optimistic.

by **jemagee** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 16:10:06

I believe the guy who played the first lawyer was a guy who played badger on Firefly...i also think he was on an episode of the x-files...i think he was the firestarter in one of the earlier episodes

by **Wizlah** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 16:38:00

Phan Paul wrote:These are issues I've been thinking about for some time. Does the movie mention Isaiah Berlin at all?

Not as yet, but since it seems to be an analysis in the main of the various models and policies that grew out of Hayek and Game Theory, I don't think he'll necessarily pop up.

by **dajafi** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 16:38:09

jemagee wrote:I believe the guy who played the first lawyer was a guy who played badger on Firefly...i also think he was on an episode of the x-files...i think he was the firestarter in one of the earlier episodes

Mystery solved. It wasn't Cusack; it was this guy.

I'm kind of disappointed; it would have been pretty cool if they'd gotten as big a star as anybody that's been involved with the show, given him one word of dialogue, and killed him off.

by **VoxOrion** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 16:41:57

Wow, he's Sci-Fi channel's go to guy, isn't he?

by **dajafi** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 16:45:34

VoxOrion wrote:Wow, he's Sci-Fi channel's go to guy, isn't he?

LOL. I thought the same thing, looking at his IMDB page. Somebody there clearly has him on speed dial.

by **jemagee** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 16:45:51

No i miss dead like me
bryan fuller is twisted

by **TenuredVulture** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 17:25:30

Wizlah wrote:
Phan Paul wrote:These are issues I've been thinking about for some time. Does the movie mention Isaiah Berlin at all?

Not as yet, but since it seems to be an analysis in the main of the various models and policies that grew out of Hayek and Game Theory, I don't think he'll necessarily pop up.

I only thought it might be possible because of the negative/postive liberty idea which seems to be relevant to the overall theme of the series.

by **TenuredVulture** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 17:27:03

jemagee wrote:No i miss dead like me
bryan fuller is twisted

Dead Like Me was a great show. What else has Bryan Fuller done?

by **Laexile** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 18:12:03

dajafi wrote:
VoxOrion wrote:Wow, he's Sci-Fi channel's go to guy, isn't he?

LOL. I thought the same thing, looking at his IMDB page. Somebody there clearly has him on speed dial.

Sci Fi makes a list of people who are approved for their shows and movies. A few years ago, a friend of mine got on the list. I'd guess they go to those people when they need particular types. I can only guess why they do this.

by **jemagee** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 18:42:36

Cause it saves time auditioning would be my guess...sci fi isn't exactly big budget tv.

Bryan Fuller also created wonderfalls another great but misunderstood and underappeciated tv show, he's also a co-exec at heroes and he wrote the company man episode...

He did the amazing screw on head which i've heard great things about but never actually seen on television

and he's got a pilot in development called pushing daisies

A man has the power to bring dead people back to life.

by **dsp** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 18:51:35

NBC having some fun with thursday comedies:

April 5th will have supersized The Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs, Andy Barker and then a repeat Earl.

April 12 30 Rock will move to 900, and the last Andy Barker will air.

April 19 Scurbs moves into the 930 slot.

April 26 30 Rock season finale

May 3 Full hour of Scrubs

Other plans for May sweeps will come out in a couple of weeks.

by **R.J. MacReady** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 19:44:13

Shame about Knights of Prosperity. Great show and great cast.

Scrubs has been outstanding this season.

Enjoyed the new South Park episode more when I viewed it a second time. Nice social commentary. Love the fight at the end.

I'm not too sure what to make of The Sarah Silverman Show. There's things I like about it but it has some weak areas. I haven't watched all the episodes as I've lost interest.

Looking forward to Halfway Home on Comedy Central. Reminds me of the spirit of Reno 911 and it looks very funny. Reno 911 new episodes start April 1.

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DSP's TV Thread (with J.E. Magee) [OT]