Television

Listening to this podcast is what got me to start watching Bosch, found Titus to be an incredibly fascinating guy. Check it out!

 
I’ve got a bit of time off and looking to check a few shows off my list. I’ve decided to start with The Simpsons. I watched it on and off in the 90s enough to be familiar with it, but not enough to where I could remember plot lines and/or quotes.

Reading online tells me there’s a sharp drop after season 10 or so. The episodes are quite easy to churn through but I’m not finding it’s sticking with me (currently mid-S2). The ultimate question, is it worth getting through all 32, soon-to-be 33 seasons? I fear I’ve been broken by shows that reward ADHD like Family Guy, vulgarity like South Park or shows that blend surreal comedy with emotional depth like Bojack Horseman. Not that The Simpsons doesn’t have any of this, just that it does so in a more family-friendly way.
I started watching The Simpsons when it first started as a small child and only about 5 years ago finally stopped watching new episodes. My SO has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the show and it’s been our primary go-to comfort TV throughout our 15 years together. We also enjoy South Park and Bojack Horseman quite a bit but neither of us find Family Guy funny. The closet modern Animated Sitcom is Bob’s Burgers being as they are both family based and have a good deal of heart at their center.

Regarding The Simpsons, the show really doesn't hit it’s stride; though there are some very funny episodes prior, until Season 3. The run from Seasons 4 through Season 8 is about as perfect stretch of TV comedy ever produced. Conan O’Brien came in as a writer during that time and wrote some of the best episodes and jokes the show ever created. IMO there were were 3 fantastic writers; O’Brien, Greg Daniels (who would later go on to write for King Of The Hill and become the show runner for the US version of The Office), and John Swartzwelder. David X Cohen and Mike Scully were both very good too during this time frame but probably a few clicks below the others.

Seasons 9 through 12 are still very good and really only suffer when compared with what came before, during this time you still get the majority of very good episodes and even a couple great ones each season but you also start getting some mediocre to bad episodes added into the mix.

From season 12 through season 18 leading into the The Simpsons Movie; the show was in cruise control there are still occasionally funny episodes and there some good gags but over all the show starts lean too heavily on parody episodes and guest stars. This is also where they start to flesh out character that are better left without a backstory Crazy Cat Lady, Groundskeeper Willie and Gil are funny side characters but are fairly one note and fleshing out their characters story does nothing to make these characters more interesting.

If you want to make it a nice round number you could watch The Simpsons through Season 20 but beyond that it’s basically just going through the motions. We stopped watching new episodes essentially after FXX (and now Disney+) started offering up Every Simpsons Ever via streaming and are much more content at this point to watch reruns from the show heyday than trough through new episodes.
 
I can't believe how good these kids are in it, and I usually hate child actors

The actress who plays Elora is 28 years old
Devery-Jacobs-at-2021-Emmys.jpg
 
For those following along - the Hisense TV issue isn't resolved just yet. I sent their broken TV back almost weeks ago and I haven't heard from them, and they haven't replied to my emails yet. So, from the first contact to them after it broke to now has been just over nine weeks with nothing settled yet.

Luckily, the Samsung issue I had was the HDMI cable. Once I swapped that out, it has been able to recognize my cable box.
 
The actress who plays Elora is 28 years old
Devery-Jacobs-at-2021-Emmys.jpg
Wow, I hope she milks that fountain of youth for all it's worth. She did seem older than the other actors in the show but I never would have guessed she was that much older than her role.

Paulina Alexis (Willie Jack), who apparently is 20, really blew me away. Her delivery is so natural.

Looking up the other actors, D'Pharaoh who plays Bear is also 20... Only Lane who plays Cheese is actually 16. Damn, good-ass actors tricking me into thinking they were actually teenagers... or maybe I'm getting to that age where everyone younger than me is a kid.
 
I stumbled across a fun and sad thread on Twitter today.

The copy reads
”I promise I won’t cry. It’s just a single frame from a TV show.”

The single frame

Then people posted a pic from a show. There were SO many good ones, MASH, Fresh Prince, Good Times, Mary Tyler Moore, tons of others. And it wasn’t necessarily frames from finales.

So anyway, here’s the one I posted.

E520E3B1-03F9-42D0-A811-25EA847D09B9.jpeg
 
I stumbled across a fun and sad thread on Twitter today.

The copy reads
”I promise I won’t cry. It’s just a single frame from a TV show.”

The single frame

Then people posted a pic from a show. There were SO many good ones, MASH, Fresh Prince, Good Times, Mary Tyler Moore, tons of others. And it wasn’t necessarily frames from finales.

So anyway, here’s the one I posted.

View attachment 112951
RIP Coach!
 
The Beard episode of Ted Lasso is a great, one-off deviation from the typical show formula in the same vein as the Teddy Perkins episode of Atlanta. I've been humming Hello since I watched on Friday.
I wasn't completely taken with it, nor was I completely turned off from it. Aspects of it I loved, especially the part with Hello. Just that whole sequence, as weird and almost out of place as it was really worked for me. I'm sad there are only 3? episodes left... I feel there's still a lot that needs to be addressed. But much like the Christmas episode, I saw this episode as simply a fun exercise in doing something different.
 


I’ve only watched Doctors 9, 10, and 11. The first two episodes of 12 but it was boring so I gave up. Russell T. Davies was what made those seasons of the show so enjoyable. This has definitely piqued my interest.
 
Has anyone else been watching Impeachment: American Crime Story?

I'll probably wait until it's all out and see what the concensus is before I start. People vs OJ is one of the best seasons of television of the last decade, but the Versace season was a chore to get through. No one has diminishing returns quite to the degree of Ryan Murphy.
 
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I want to. We really enjoy the OJ one quite a bit but I haven’t given it a go as of yet.

I'll probably wait until it's all out and see what the concensus is before I start. People vs OJ is one of the best season's of television of the last decade, but the Versace season was a chore to get through. No one has diminishing returns quite to the degree of Ryan Murphy.
I didn't watch OJ, but this one is really compelling. Whoever wrote the screenplay must have thought Linda Tripp was a hideous person though. She is not painted in a good light.
 
I'll probably wait until it's all out and see what the concensus is before I start. People vs OJ is one of the best season's of television of the last decade, but the Versace season was a chore to get through. No one has diminishing returns quite to the degree of Ryan Murphy.
Versace got a little soapy at times and the kills got a little American Horror Story at times but damn if Darren Criss didn’t absolutely murder (heh) the role.
 
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