Posted by dahsdebater on 4/19/2019 4:33:00 PM (view original):
Posted by d_rock97 on 4/17/2019 11:29:00 AM (view original):
Nah I meant comedies. Just doesn’t feel right to go Breaking Bad, GoT, Lost, Sopranos, then something like Seinfeld or Friends. It’s like going The Godfather, Citizen Kane, Silence of the Lambs, then an Adam Sandler movie. Comedies should have their own list
I don't frankly think that Breaking Bad and GoT resemble each other any more than either resembles Seinfeld, frankly. In fact, I would imagine the characters in Breaking Bad would find the characters in Seinfeld far more relateable than the characters in GoT. Making shows set in a real-world setting entails a very different set of challenges than making shows set in an imagined world, and I'm not talking about logistical considerations of set design. Exploring a real space, trying to find scenarios that feel real and yet far enough on the margins to be interesting, within the world we live in is a very different challenge than trying to build another world that is self-consistent and interesting, consistent with our understanding of basic human nature, and worth the time of adults to keep leaving this world to come back to.
There's an arbitrary delineation between things we call "dramas" and things we call "comedies," but each category is very broad. They are also very overlapped. What, for example, was The A Team? What is the Orville - comedy, drama, or sci-fi? You mentioned Seinfeld and Friends together. While Seinfeld generally only dealt with heavy or emotional subjects flippantly, Friends frankly verged on the genre of melodramatic primetime soap operas(e.g. The Hills, Melrose Place, Dallas, 90210, etc.) much of the time. They're really not at all similar in tone. I don't see why trying to force shows into boxes is ultimately good for the television landscape or a particularly useful exercise.
Excellent point!
I think most people feel comfortable with boxes, especially in entertainment. In addition, the medium of TV has evolved from basically radio with pictures to niche channels on cable. Boxes make things easy for people, We all know the old joke about Hollywood pitches saying things like "It's Die Hard On A Ship." But yes, I agree that genres spill over and that's only natural. Remember the trend of the "Very Special Episode" from sitcoms in the late 70s-80s Like the Diff'rent Strokes episode where Arnold and his buddy run into a pedophile?
I propose these shows as influential and furthering the development of the medium:
-I Love Lucy. Pioneered the modern 3-camera setup prevalent today. Also one of the early examples of the stars of the show becoming involved in the production side.
-Star Trek The Original Series. Moved science fiction from being either for kids or mindless stories about Bug-Eyed Monsters to being intelligent and written for adults. Also one of the first shows to benefit from syndication and lead to an entire franchise that becomes a major cash cow for a network or studio.
-MASH. One of the first shows to demonstrate that you could successfully move a movie to a weekly series. Also was one of the first to really mix drama and comedy.
Seinfeld. A sitcom about nothing that defied the usual sitcom conventions...the characters were basically unlikeable individuals, and the show had the hard rule of "no hugging, no learning." Altered the trajectory that most sitcoms follow today.
-Babylon 5. One of the first successful shows that told an on-going, coherent story that wasn't a soap opera. The true precursor of the modern drama series such as Breaking Bad, The Sopranos. etc. Also pioneered CGI, thus making SFX more affordable.
One other point. Streaming services have changed the way we watch TV, and even the way it is produced. In the beginning, it wasn't uncommon for sitcoms to have 39 episodes in a season very early on. By the 60s, it was roughly 26 episodes. Now, most original shows on premium cable and streaming are 10 episodes long. And the concept of binge watching had taken away to some extent the whole "tune on next week" vibe.
Okay, discuss.