Timewaster's Guide Archive
Departments => Movies and TV => Topic started by: 42 on November 05, 2003, 05:27:19 PM
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So on CNN, they mentioned that NBC is scrapping most of it's new shows and is dying in the ratings.
So my question is: If you could create your own televisions series, what would it be about and why would people want to watch it?
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Incidentially, can anyone tell me what kind of program tends to do well in the US? History programs are surprisingly strong here in the UK, along with the insipid "reality" shows and "trading homes" crap. Sci Fi is largely the domain of Sky one, and comedy is a firm favourite.
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Situation comedies, crime drama, and "reality" are probably the most prominant. With game shows following it up. During the day soap operas and talk shows reign.
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CSI is the strongest performing show in the US. Since starting its new season it has been at the top of the ratings ever since. CSI spin-offs are also doing well. Crime and court dramas do very well.
A flood of reality TV shows, that are really just game shows, thrive in number. And "makeover" shows are growing in numbers getting the rest of the nation to look like N.Y.C. or L.A.
Insidentally, the shows that NBC is scrapping are mostly British imports that have been Americanized.
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Eh. I don't watch or like them, so i disregarded them, but soap operas like Emmerdale, brookside, and the one set in london... damn, can't remember the name. But anyway, those have nigh-fanatical followings. 24 has been on, very popular. Crime dramas are also biggies, with A Touch of Frost, Inspector Morse and The Bill being old favourites.
History shows do get reasonably good slots on the BBC. The latest one has been "Time Commanders" where they use the upcoming game "Rome: Total War" to re-create battles from antiquity with a team of 4 ordinary joes trying to command the forces to victory. They usually stink abominabally. The show is only average, but it has attracted a lot of attention from wargamers and the like.
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Man, what kind of tv show would I make.
Thats a very tough decision. But it would probably be something comedic. Without values, or any un-stereotypical theme. I would want to make fun of everything and anything. Focus on a rock and talk about something for a minute. I dunno, it'd be something cool though. I'd be the genre definning redefinition!
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Gemm: Andy Kaufman on crack and angel dust at the same time.
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In other words it would suck. ;)
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Heh, something like that SE. Maybe some something or such thrown in there too.
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I think the "make fun of everything and anything" schtick has been done to much. Successful TV show creators are a little more focused than that. You also didn't mention why people or which people would watch it, which if you're going to create something for an audience that should be the first thing to ask yourself.
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I like the idea of Time Commanders, or at least the impression I got of the show from Entropy's brief description. I'd get some seriously super amazing modelers and painters and such to do tabletop armies and scenery (no video games, all minis) and then have people off the street try to play through the scenario, with history/military buffs watching and doing commentary. You wouldn't show the whole match in real time, of course, just the good stuff edited down.
Either that, or something called Bikini Obstacle Course. I think that one's target demographic should be obvious.
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Is that an Obstacle corse that bikinis have to run, or a course made entirely out of bikinis that people have to navigate?
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I *hope* it's wimmins in bikini's running an obstacle course. Any obstacle course that involves them running and jumping.
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It's actually all of those: women in bikinis who have to run an obstacle course entirely made out of bikinis (and, occasionally, women in bikinis). Each event you win gives you access to other, better bikinis that serve no official purpose (much like DOA Beach Volleyball).
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/me lights you all on fire
Burn! Burn!
Personally, I am a big fan of Gilmore Girls, Charmed and Judging Amy. Chick shows with a lot of emphasis on relationships, etc. But I'd also like to see shows like Monster Garage and Orange County Choopers come on at an earlier time so that I can remember to watch them. NBC should pick up those two shows.
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Gillmore Girls. Heh.
I'm also going to produce WWF extreme, which will feature all women wrestlers, but none of those burly ones on now. Also jello. Lots of jello.
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I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but the latest statistics show that sex isn't selling well for prime time TV. Shows like Skin, Coupling and the like are all getting the canceled. My thought is that those kind of shows are for people who can't afford pay-per-view.
So here are some of my musings about what might be a successful TV show.
1. Characters with depth and actors that can actually act well enough to portray that.
2. Actors that are hot, though not breaking the first rule.
3. Mix of humor and drama in good proportion.
4. Clever, witty humor sells better than slapstick or silly humor.
5. Drama that can make you feel like all of your friends and family have died.
6. Action and lots of movement on screen.
7. Relationship issues that make you want to kill one character or another.
8. The show should make you want to yell at your TV set as though it could do something about what you're watching, yet you still don't change the channel.
9. Being slightly educational helps make the viewer feel less guilty about watching the show. Couse, you don't have to really teach anything, just make the audience feel like they might be learning something.
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mmm......jello.
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An estimated 18% of the nation is afraid of Jello.
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Wow, 42, you just described Gilmore Girls. (MoD, I second you on that. I've started tutoring on Tuesday nights but there's no way I'm missing GG, so I tape it and watch it sans commercials when I get home.) I love their fast-talking intellectual jokes. Reminds me of movies from the 40s. Much more brain usage than your average TV show.
Actually, come to think of it, you know what GG reminds me of? Northern Exposure. Though the humor is small-town Connecticut quirky, not small-town Alaska quirky.
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You know what? I'll give those consideration when making a pilot. All sorts of things and stuff. I'd probably like to do a modern sci-fi thing. Without the aliens. I liked Gaiman's Neverwhere, so it may be similar to that. Maybe an underground America.
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Ed used to be like that, but now it's boring.
I think that a much simpler list of criteria would be: characters that the audience can identify with.
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Actually I think 42 was describing Farscape. Now if only we had something to fit that description that wasn't cancelled.
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Personally, I didn't like Farscape. It just seemed so dopey. And just to add injury to insult (or some such, make it up yourself day) I didn't like Babylon 5, Deep Space Nine, or Star Trek all that much. All though Star Trek wasn't that bad. I like the old stuff, with Kirk and Spock. Bam!
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K, those are all successful shows that have survived past two seasons. So thats what I wondering is someone on the board could create the next Gillmore Girls, Farscape, Buffy, or CSI.
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Wow, I must say, I've not watched a lot of those, but what I did see I mostly didn't like. Gilmore Girls seems like a big chick flick gone TV to me. Buffy was only cool because Willow was so hot. Farscape, refer to the third person referenced in my conjuctive argument. And I really don't like police "dramas." That's about the silliest thing I've ever heard.
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Well, Gemm there is no accounting for your taste.
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I'm sick and tired of people saying that Willow is hot. Also, I think she sounds like her nose is stuffed every time she talks.
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Willow was hot until she became a lesbian. And I would agree with her voice, I'm fairly sure that she was the only cast member not given a solo during the Buffy musical.
Anyways, Buffy lasted for seven seasons making it a very successful show. It also garnered awards, aclamades, great ratings, and would probably still be running if Gellar hadn't quit. Course, in my opinion it had already ran at least two seasons too long.
So if a show like Buff can be successful (or even better look a Xena), what else could be successful?
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jello wrestling.
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Maybe jello wrestling could be successful, but I'm not seeing it.
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I don't really see awards as being a reason for me to watch something. Nor do I like to abide by what other people tell me. If I think something sucks, I'll say it sucks. If I like it, I like it. Otherwise I'm just gonna have to say that you're totally wrong about Wilow. And it wasn't really the character, it was the actor. Although, damn that guy she's marrying. She should have me instead. She would love the bejebus out of me.
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The question isn't why you would watch something, but why a large group of people would watch something. I marketing, it is completely possible that something can be wildly successful even though you as an individual may not like. Simply put, people like things for different reasons.
Also, the people I have noticed who are successful in the creative arts, have significat concern for what other people think of their work besides wether they as an individual like it.
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a hedgehog could love the bejubs out of you, Gemm.
Jello wrestling woudl be successful because Wrestling is successful. And it adds in the wholesome goodness of jello.
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It seems kind of faddish to me. Seems like something that would be part of a show like Bonzai or Fear Factor, not something that could be its own show for many seasons. And Jello wrestling isn't exactly a recognized sport like wrestling was at one time.
I need to get cast on one of those shows were I get to do nothing but criticize. What a sad existance.
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And I would like to add that you all need to work harder at coming up with good TV programing so that I can have my own television and film media conglomerate.
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I just want to act right now. You know, do the TV and Film making later. Just act.
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Ah...Gilmore Girls. I *like* that show, and actively miss it when its not on, like now. They need to put it back on over here.
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I'm into more specialized TV. Back when I had cable (i have since moved and now only get PBS) I was either watching ESPN or the Food Network. I also really dig Junkyard Wars on TLC.
I despise CSI, simply for the fact that the main characters are crime scene investigators and they should not be interrogating witnesses and being detectives - they should gather things up in plastic bags and then go back to the lab. I can't begin to describe how much that bothers me.
The only prime time TV I watch with consistency is Law and Order (the original) and The West Wing.