4 ms·

That's the pain we all feel on more accessible topics and their treatment in mainstream entertainment. It's just more acute for you because you're an expert.

That's the pain we all feel on more accessible topics and their treatment in mainstream entertainment. It's just more acute for you because you're an expert. Did you enjoy the Sneaker's "can decrypt anything" plot line? How about that stupid TV show with a magical button that turned on and off electricity? I couldn't be in the same room when my wife watched that crap. Happens to everyone. I'm not dismissing what you say, more like welcome to the club. :-)

philbarr 9y ago
> How about that stupid TV show with a magical button that turned on and off electricity? I think you're talking about "Revolution" which had JJ Abrams splattered all over the adverts. I watched one episode and thought, after Lost, "I'm not falling for this again."
- Cyph0n 9y ago
  "Revolution" proved to me that Lindelof was the more interesting one from the "Lost" duo. Case in point: Lindelof's "The Leftovers" is one of the best shows airing right now.
  - prodmerc 9y ago
    The leftovers is still on? Damn, who the hell watches that...
    - Cyph0n 9y ago
      Oh man, "The Leftovers" is an amazing show in my opinion, but it's definitely not for the faint of heart. Another gem I discovered this year is Amazon's "Patriot". Coincidentally, it features one of the main actors from "Lost" :P
      - technofiend 9y ago
        I classify horror movies and post-apocalyptic shows like The Walking Dead as "bad things happen to good people for no reason other than plotline." I can only watch so much of that before it wears me out because there are no surprises and nothing beyond temporary respite for the characters. As you say, it requires viewers be really invested to watch everyone die, but if anyone can do it George R.R. Martin can. The old joke is if people bother him enough about the next Game of Thrones book it'll just be 1,000 pages of snow blowing across graves. When he's done with the series I'm not sure how many characters, readers or viewers will be left. Even so he's the only author I can point to who can create compelling enough content that people may stay to the end. I'll never watch another Walking Dead or Leftovers because I just don't care enough about the characters, but George will probably manage to drag me to the end of GoT. Damn you, George.
- technofiend 9y ago
  Yeah, I think I was blocking the show name like some childhood trauma. I was a little surprised JJ did such a poor job for backstory but then again don't get me started on his Star Trek reboots. :grumble:
  - tnecniv 9y ago
    I've seen probably a half dozen things JJ has worked on, but none of them end up being any good. He normally starts out with a pretty good premise, but it rapidly becomes apparent that he doesn't know what to do with it. Besides Star Trek (at least the first one, the second one is a different story) and Star Wars, Fringe and Super 8 jump to mind. Fortunately Stranger Things got to be what Super 8 could have been.
- e12e 9y ago
  Interestingly enough, they sort of save the hard sci-fi plot of revolution ; they just take a number of seasons to pull the origin of the nano-tech scourge out of the hat (yes, it was well intentioned, yes self-replicating nano-tech turned out to be a bad idea, yes there was a command and control feature built in).
lotsofpulp 9y ago
Not just for topics that you're knowledgeable on, but also if you pick up on the patterns that writers use or read tvtropes it also ruins the watch-ability. I can't watch anything made by broadcast TV or TBS/TNT/USA or that Marvel stuff, it's just so boring and repetitive. Although, I do wonder what it says about people that the most popular movies involve creating a fantasy where the main character has some type of calamity during childhood then goes on to save the world with superpowers.
- technofiend 9y ago
  >Although, I do wonder what it says about people that the most popular movies involve creating a fantasy where the main character has some type of calamity during childhood then goes on to save the world with superpowers. Lots of folks carrying childhood angst and wishing they could make things right, I guess.
- tnecniv 9y ago
  > Not just for topics that you're knowledgeable on, but also if you pick up on the patterns that writers use or read tvtropes it also ruins the watch-ability. This is true of story telling in general, though. There's really only so many story elements. That doesn't mean you can't write a new, great story with them today (just like there's still great music being made despite us only having 12 notes in Western music).

philbarr 9y ago

> How about that stupid TV show with a magical button that turned on and off electricity? I think you're talking about "Revolution" which had JJ Abrams splattered all over the adverts. I watched one episode and thought, after Lost, "I'm not falling for this again."

Cyph0n 9y ago
"Revolution" proved to me that Lindelof was the more interesting one from the "Lost" duo. Case in point: Lindelof's "The Leftovers" is one of the best shows airing right now.
- prodmerc 9y ago
  The leftovers is still on? Damn, who the hell watches that...
  - Cyph0n 9y ago
    Oh man, "The Leftovers" is an amazing show in my opinion, but it's definitely not for the faint of heart. Another gem I discovered this year is Amazon's "Patriot". Coincidentally, it features one of the main actors from "Lost" :P
    - technofiend 9y ago
      I classify horror movies and post-apocalyptic shows like The Walking Dead as "bad things happen to good people for no reason other than plotline." I can only watch so much of that before it wears me out because there are no surprises and nothing beyond temporary respite for the characters. As you say, it requires viewers be really invested to watch everyone die, but if anyone can do it George R.R. Martin can. The old joke is if people bother him enough about the next Game of Thrones book it'll just be 1,000 pages of snow blowing across graves. When he's done with the series I'm not sure how many characters, readers or viewers will be left. Even so he's the only author I can point to who can create compelling enough content that people may stay to the end. I'll never watch another Walking Dead or Leftovers because I just don't care enough about the characters, but George will probably manage to drag me to the end of GoT. Damn you, George.
technofiend 9y ago
Yeah, I think I was blocking the show name like some childhood trauma. I was a little surprised JJ did such a poor job for backstory but then again don't get me started on his Star Trek reboots. :grumble:
- tnecniv 9y ago
  I've seen probably a half dozen things JJ has worked on, but none of them end up being any good. He normally starts out with a pretty good premise, but it rapidly becomes apparent that he doesn't know what to do with it. Besides Star Trek (at least the first one, the second one is a different story) and Star Wars, Fringe and Super 8 jump to mind. Fortunately Stranger Things got to be what Super 8 could have been.
e12e 9y ago
Interestingly enough, they sort of save the hard sci-fi plot of revolution ; they just take a number of seasons to pull the origin of the nano-tech scourge out of the hat (yes, it was well intentioned, yes self-replicating nano-tech turned out to be a bad idea, yes there was a command and control feature built in).

lotsofpulp 9y ago

Not just for topics that you're knowledgeable on, but also if you pick up on the patterns that writers use or read tvtropes it also ruins the watch-ability. I can't watch anything made by broadcast TV or TBS/TNT/USA or that Marvel stuff, it's just so boring and repetitive. Although, I do wonder what it says about people that the most popular movies involve creating a fantasy where the main character has some type of calamity during childhood then goes on to save the world with superpowers.

technofiend 9y ago
>Although, I do wonder what it says about people that the most popular movies involve creating a fantasy where the main character has some type of calamity during childhood then goes on to save the world with superpowers. Lots of folks carrying childhood angst and wishing they could make things right, I guess.
tnecniv 9y ago
> Not just for topics that you're knowledgeable on, but also if you pick up on the patterns that writers use or read tvtropes it also ruins the watch-ability. This is true of story telling in general, though. There's really only so many story elements. That doesn't mean you can't write a new, great story with them today (just like there's still great music being made despite us only having 12 notes in Western music).