And so, with Breaking Bad over and no other reasons to live, I’ve come to something of a crossroads.
There are a lot of things that I’d like to cover on Noiseless Chatter (such as a review of Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge, but I haven’t had time to finish it yet) and I still intend to cover them. And I also want to re-start Steve Zissou Saturdays, but that’ll have to wait until November at the soonest, due to some boring personal-ass horse crap I promise you wouldn’t care about.
But you know what? I kind of liked having a show I could cover regularly. Something that would force me to sit down and write. And you wonderful dudes and sexy ladies seemed to like it as well, so I thought I’d pick another show that I could do. Something I could review episode by episode, probably once a week, that would give this blog some focus, give me a reason to write even when I don’t want to, and give you a reason to return even though I know you promised yourself you wouldn’t.
And I thought I’d open it up to a vote. The “winner” won’t necessarily be chosen that way, but it’ll give me a chance to see what you guys are hoping to see around these parts. The way I see it, there are three ways I can go:
A Show I Know I Love: I could take a show I’m already enamored with front to back and write (hopefully) intelligent, deeper examinations of what makes them work quite as perfectly as they do. Some candidates here might be Party Down, The Venture Bros., The Office (UK), Peep Show, or all the old Breaking Bad episodes I didn’t review the first time around.
A Show I Have A Complicated Relationship With: I could take a show that frustratingly runs the gamut from absolutely brilliant to borderline unwatchable. This could be fun because I’d be able to both praise the things a show does right and deconstruct what made it go wrong. This would probably be something like Get a Life, Red Dwarf, The IT Crowd, Black Books or even The Simpsons. (Though in that case there’s no way in shit I’m doing every episode.)
A Show I Know is Fucking Awful: I’ve linked to Full House Reviewed before, and you really should check it out if you haven’t already. It’s made me wonder what other show I could put under a similar microscope…some piece of crap I spent so many hours of my childhood laughing at like an idiot, which would embarrass me endlessly to relive. My approach would be a bit different…instead of just ripping into it for maximum comedy I’d actually want to dig deep and figure out what they were trying to accomplish, and why the fruits of their labor don’t quite hold up. Of course it would be funny too. I can hear you laughing already! This would have to be something I remember quite well, but still know will suck through today’s eyes. So probably ALF, Perfect Strangers, Gilligan’s Island or Clarissa Explains it All.
I kind of want to go with option 3, but even then I wouldn’t know what to pick, so I figured I’d just open it wide.
What kind of approach would you like to see on a recurring basis? What show(s) would you like to see covered?
I’ll make a better effort to post frequently, so that it’s not just a weekly update, but I do think some direction would help. So have at it! What do you want from me???
This doesn’t fit into any of the three categories, but Community is the best TV show of all time (even better than Breaking Bad), so you should do that.
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In case you want more helpful recommendations, I would be down for a show like Party Down (i.e. a classic cult comedy), but if I haven’t seen it then I’d prefer it to be available for streaming on Netflix so I can follow along. Freaks and Geeks, though I’ve already seen it, would be a perfect candidate.
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As for a show you have a complicated relationship with, I would love love love if you did The IT Crowd because I have a complicated relationship with it too. Basically, I dislike almost every aspect of it besides anything relating to Moss. But your reviews would majorly help me sort out my feelings on it. Consider this my second choice if for some reason you are terrible and decide not to pick Community.
For an awful show I’d probably throw the U.S. Office out there, if only because I have a perverse fascination with your distaste for it and I’d be interested in a more thorough deconstruction of your hatred. Plus it’d give me a fantastic excuse to rewatch the first five seasons, which I’ve been meaning to do anyway. Obviously it’s quite a long show, and I’d be fine if you finished after season 5 or whenever you stopped watching it regularly. This is my third pick.
Okay, so those are some to start off. Again, I think Community is the best show to ever exist on earth (am I completely overselling it? Nah), but if you’d rather pick a show you’re more familiar with IT Crowd and Office would be dynamite. I can probably think of a dozen more suggestions should the need arise, but otherwise good luck choosing and I can’t wait for your pick.
Oh God I totally screwed up the formatting on that. That’s what I get for trying to italicize the names of TV shows. Also, I just realized ALF is on Hulu+. In that case I’d also be totally down for that!
Don’t worry, Maxwell. At least you got the paragraph separation right.
Oh, please do Alf!
Me
Red Dwarf VIII
Red Dwarf – Back to Earth
Red Dwarf VII
Red Dwarf X again
Zombie Simpsons/Venture Bros. from the start/IT Crowd
Darn my blindspot for “:”.
You should be looking at “Me[colon]”, Phil.
My first vote is for show you have a complicated relationship with. It promises the most interesting pieces. If you choose instead something like Venture Brothers, which I have never seen, the pieces will probably be meaningless to those who haven’t seen the show. And choosing a show you don’t like–well, I know the other blogger has had success with that, but it’s not really the way I see this blog.
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Of course, RaikoLives will be ecstatic if you choose Venture Brothers, so I shouldn’t speak too strongly against that….
Wow. Mentioned, by name, by someone else on my favourite blog. It’s 12:23am and already I know it’s gonna be a good day.
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Yes, I totally WOULD be ecstatic for some VB reviews, but the “complicated relationship” reviews would probably be the best for you, our host, writing/self-discovery wise.
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Although I would HOPE that should you choose a show you adore, those of us who keep coming back would seek out said show if we hadn’t seen it. I am a fan of VB now because of your reviews, and I think I’ll be starting Breaking Bad soon as well.
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While I enjoy a bit of a “this is utter crap” post from time to time, Mr Reed is always so positive and insightful I don’t think that’s really the style I want to be reading here. If that helps.
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So my vote goes for Venture Bros (of course) or “complicated relationship”,
And thanks, Jeff. I appreciate the shout-out. XD
I appreciate you saying this is your favorite blog. Wowsers.
You should do Alf. Or Gigligan’s Island. Or the episode where Alf visits Gilligan’s Island. Actually, I take it back, do Perfect Strangers at least once.
Of those choices what I’d like the most is another look at the Simpsons, maybe just an episode or two.
“It’s Complicated” would be the most interesting to me.
I would vote for drama over comedy, based on having read (too) many comedy reviews lately.
I’m interested in the following shows (none of which I’ve seen: The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, that wild west one whose name escapes me right now, Burn Notice, uh err, I think that’s it.
You know, I read your comment and thought “Yes! I SHOULD do drama!” …then I realized I don’t, and have never, watched drama. Maybe at some point I’ll tackle Six Feet Under or The Sopranos or something else everyone keeps telling me to watch, but with the exception of Breaking Bad I’ve only ever spent significant time with comedies. And even that, at times, was just an extremely dark comedy. I may want to write a post about this…I’m not sure why drama doesn’t resonate as much with me.
Hmmm. 3rd Rock from the Sun? That 70’s Show? Just Shoot Me? Those are some of my dumber guilty pleasures. The WORST guilty pleasure being Once Upon a Time (which just started a new season, heyyoooo), which I know is completely awful but I love it anyway. Not sure if a review of any of those would be fun to read though. Which would maybe make it a good challenge? But probably not. Heh. Louis C.K.’s show Louie is interesting, and funny, and kind of dark – I would think reviews of that show would be interesting, but I have no idea how many people watch it. It’s the show that I forget that I like, then watch an episode, then halfway through it I hate it, but then I wind up thinking about it for weeks. And rinse, repeat. I’m so sad that you haven’t seen The Sopranos but honestly so much has been written about that show already, I’m not sure that it would be worth it. There’s my brain dump for you.
OMG. Perfect Strangers. Yes.
I would like to keep my initial request for ALF, but also add a suggestion for Sliders. I’m sure you will love that one as the seasons drag on.