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Jul. 24th, 2005 12:48 amPeople know I travel. They often ask me where my next adventure is going to be.
Where should I go next: Iceland, New Zealand, or Eastern Europe?
Where should I go next: Iceland, New Zealand, or Eastern Europe?
Jul. 24th, 2005
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Jul. 24th, 2005 10:26 amReality TV seems to have taken a turn for the fake.
I mean, the producers have always been fiddling behind the scenes to increase the drama. But they've never pretended to be documentaries. There was either a game show, a makeover, or a bunch of people stuck in a house, or combinations thereof. The producers would set up situations and watch the results emerge. The cast, though they may have been guinea pigs, they ultimately determined the outcome of the situation.
Now, there are two shows that are pretending to be documentaries, ostensibly of events that just happen to transpire while there's a camera crew around. Well, maybe not documentaries, but sitcoms. As a result, they strip reality television of the one thing that makes it worth watching: the randomness.
The first one I noticed was that one on Fox, "Princes of (something)", about these spoiled rich kids. I think it's supposed to be "The SImple Life", except with guys, and presented as a sitcom. Their stepfather is a record producer who gets sick of their freeloading, and tries to make them earn their own living. But they ruined it by filming the pilot, where the kids are throwing this gigantic expensive party and the parents come home and "the [FCC-bleep] hits the fan". And they have to act surprised, when a camera crew has been filming both their party, and the parents' car trip home where they're trying to act oblivious. Now, when you start out with such an obviously-staged scene, you pretty much admit that it's a produced sitcom where they were too cheap to hire real actors.
Then there's Pauly Shore's latest œuvre, "Minding the Store". In this case, the first episode fooled me, kinda, because a failing comedy club trying "Hot Girls of Comedy" sounds plausible, though the "plot twist" where his mother makes them take down the marquee sounds a little artificial -- as does the convention where we never see his mother, she's just on the speaker phone, even though she's clearly in town. But, the second episode opened in his therapist's office. His SEX therapist's office. And he confesses to being a sex addict, and she makes him agree not to have sex on his road trip to Austin. Oh, look, there's a plot with a nice little bow on it. And that's all my TiVo caught. Now, in real life, there'd be a chance he might go to Austin and find it easier than he expected, that there were five guys to every girl, that every girl he met saw Bio-Dome and wants their money back. But, I can safely bet that the producers tracked down the last three women in Austin who want to pork him, and threw him in temptation's way. I feel like I could predict the whole rest of the season.
I blame the Friends cast. If their salaries didn't get so insanely out-of-control, it'd still be affordable to just produce sitcoms.
I mean, the producers have always been fiddling behind the scenes to increase the drama. But they've never pretended to be documentaries. There was either a game show, a makeover, or a bunch of people stuck in a house, or combinations thereof. The producers would set up situations and watch the results emerge. The cast, though they may have been guinea pigs, they ultimately determined the outcome of the situation.
Now, there are two shows that are pretending to be documentaries, ostensibly of events that just happen to transpire while there's a camera crew around. Well, maybe not documentaries, but sitcoms. As a result, they strip reality television of the one thing that makes it worth watching: the randomness.
The first one I noticed was that one on Fox, "Princes of (something)", about these spoiled rich kids. I think it's supposed to be "The SImple Life", except with guys, and presented as a sitcom. Their stepfather is a record producer who gets sick of their freeloading, and tries to make them earn their own living. But they ruined it by filming the pilot, where the kids are throwing this gigantic expensive party and the parents come home and "the [FCC-bleep] hits the fan". And they have to act surprised, when a camera crew has been filming both their party, and the parents' car trip home where they're trying to act oblivious. Now, when you start out with such an obviously-staged scene, you pretty much admit that it's a produced sitcom where they were too cheap to hire real actors.
Then there's Pauly Shore's latest œuvre, "Minding the Store". In this case, the first episode fooled me, kinda, because a failing comedy club trying "Hot Girls of Comedy" sounds plausible, though the "plot twist" where his mother makes them take down the marquee sounds a little artificial -- as does the convention where we never see his mother, she's just on the speaker phone, even though she's clearly in town. But, the second episode opened in his therapist's office. His SEX therapist's office. And he confesses to being a sex addict, and she makes him agree not to have sex on his road trip to Austin. Oh, look, there's a plot with a nice little bow on it. And that's all my TiVo caught. Now, in real life, there'd be a chance he might go to Austin and find it easier than he expected, that there were five guys to every girl, that every girl he met saw Bio-Dome and wants their money back. But, I can safely bet that the producers tracked down the last three women in Austin who want to pork him, and threw him in temptation's way. I feel like I could predict the whole rest of the season.
I blame the Friends cast. If their salaries didn't get so insanely out-of-control, it'd still be affordable to just produce sitcoms.
(no subject)
Jul. 24th, 2005 04:15 pmThanks to BitTorrent, I can see every episode of James Burke's ", alongside dozens of Holocaust-denier documentaries, more dozens 9/11 conspiracy theories, tutorials on how to grow marijuana at home, and files named "Propoganda Bullshit Liars Microchip 666 Nwo Dictatorship.wmv" and "speen break oral contest".
I also found The BBS Documentary, but it's just one file, no episode number, 1.96 gigabytes. I suspect it's not the entire thing.
I also found The BBS Documentary, but it's just one file, no episode number, 1.96 gigabytes. I suspect it's not the entire thing.
Unimpressive.
Jul. 24th, 2005 06:22 pmComedy Central is promoting the Carlos Mencia show with some mini-monologue that begins, "My priest told me that God doesn't want me to have sex with my sister." That sentence breaks my brain, because even though I don't have a sister, I'm pretty sure that if I did, I wouldn't need a priest to tell me it wouldn't be a good idea. What, he doesn't have any cousins that would fit the joke? That'd certainly be an easier sell.
Then he goes on and on about how the story of Adam and Eve demands incest for at least the first few generations. Gee, brilliant material there, Mencia. I didn't come up with that particular Bible paradox until I was 12.
In general, I've found Carlos Mencia's act a bit hard to swallow. Some of it's insightful, but sometimes he's just trying to maintain a constant level of bellowing volume. And his ethnic material relies too heavily on broad stereotypes and bad foreign accents. They don't add to the act, they just make it louder and more painful to watch. I'm not impressed. Oh, yeah, the Middle Eastern guy you've never met is bellowing about how he gets extra screening at the airport. Oh, yeah, the Japanese guy who doesn't exist is bellowing in some phone call to Osama that refers to how we ended World War II.
The eighties called, they want their open mic night back.
Then he goes on and on about how the story of Adam and Eve demands incest for at least the first few generations. Gee, brilliant material there, Mencia. I didn't come up with that particular Bible paradox until I was 12.
In general, I've found Carlos Mencia's act a bit hard to swallow. Some of it's insightful, but sometimes he's just trying to maintain a constant level of bellowing volume. And his ethnic material relies too heavily on broad stereotypes and bad foreign accents. They don't add to the act, they just make it louder and more painful to watch. I'm not impressed. Oh, yeah, the Middle Eastern guy you've never met is bellowing about how he gets extra screening at the airport. Oh, yeah, the Japanese guy who doesn't exist is bellowing in some phone call to Osama that refers to how we ended World War II.
The eighties called, they want their open mic night back.