Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Binge-watching '70s shows. There were a lot of good ones!
Mary Tyler Moore
All In the Family
M.A.S.H.
Taxi
Carol Burnett (but I could never stand Tim Conway....)
Bob Newhart
Barney Miller
Laverne and Shirley (loved Lenny and Squiggy)
Happy Days (until Fonzie took over the show -- yuck)
Rockford Files
Soap
Flip Wilson (and who didn't love Geraldine?)
... and a few others I don't remember offhand.
The days of real people writing real scripts about real stuff.
Actors with real bodies and real teeth.
That's one thing that struck me --- the teeth. These days, everyone on TV, even on the
"reality" shows, has perfectly even, perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth. It's like a law. You can't be seen on TV unless your teeth are blindingly white.
Forty years ago, teeth were more natural.
It must have changed somewhere about the late '90s, because I remember an episode of Friends where Ross got his teeth whitened, and everyone made fun of him. Now everyone on TV has those ridiculous teeth.
.
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
4025. Blasts
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Wind today. Strong, steady, cold, almost icy wind. After several days of balmy breezes in the 50s, it's a miserable reminder that winter isn't going to give up so easily.
The cold wind is getting into my house somehow. Even hurricane Sandy didn't accomplish that. It may be coming in through the bathroom and laundry vents, I don't know, but when there's an especially strong gust, I feel a draft.
----------------------------------------
Between January 1976 and May 1977 there was a television show, five evenings a week, a soap opera parody named "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman". It was very unusual and very popular. I was not aware of it at first, watched very little TV in those days, but there is there was an aspect of the show that I can't go into here that applied strongly to my life at the time, and many people asked me, "Oh, Mary Hartman, yeah, is that why you [blah blah]? Wow. That's great!" Well, it wasn't, and I had been proud of being unique in that blah blah, but suddenly everyone was blah blahing, and it pissed me off, since I had been blah blahing since long before the show was even on, and people should have known that. Plus, in groups it was the main topic of conversation, so if you didn't watch it you were left out. I So, of course I had to watch the show.
I got hooked. It really was fun. Unfortunately, it ended shortly after I started, and in those days there was nothing like VCRs so if you missed a show, unless it went into reruns you were out of luck.
Well, all these years later, just within the past three weeks, somebody has uploaded the entire series, some 300+ episodes, onto Youtube. I wonder where they got them, and how long the copyright holder will allow them to stay.
I've been binge-watching, all the episodes I had missed, and enjoying them thoroughly, hoping I can at least get to the point where I had picked up the story in late 1976.
What's interesting is that I'm getting some references I suspect I might have missed back then.
----------------------
Anyone else out there remember Mary?
Wind today. Strong, steady, cold, almost icy wind. After several days of balmy breezes in the 50s, it's a miserable reminder that winter isn't going to give up so easily.
The cold wind is getting into my house somehow. Even hurricane Sandy didn't accomplish that. It may be coming in through the bathroom and laundry vents, I don't know, but when there's an especially strong gust, I feel a draft.
----------------------------------------
Between January 1976 and May 1977 there was a television show, five evenings a week, a soap opera parody named "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman". It was very unusual and very popular. I was not aware of it at first, watched very little TV in those days, but there is there was an aspect of the show that I can't go into here that applied strongly to my life at the time, and many people asked me, "Oh, Mary Hartman, yeah, is that why you [blah blah]? Wow. That's great!" Well, it wasn't, and I had been proud of being unique in that blah blah, but suddenly everyone was blah blahing, and it pissed me off, since I had been blah blahing since long before the show was even on, and people should have known that. Plus, in groups it was the main topic of conversation, so if you didn't watch it you were left out. I So, of course I had to watch the show.
I got hooked. It really was fun. Unfortunately, it ended shortly after I started, and in those days there was nothing like VCRs so if you missed a show, unless it went into reruns you were out of luck.
Well, all these years later, just within the past three weeks, somebody has uploaded the entire series, some 300+ episodes, onto Youtube. I wonder where they got them, and how long the copyright holder will allow them to stay.
I've been binge-watching, all the episodes I had missed, and enjoying them thoroughly, hoping I can at least get to the point where I had picked up the story in late 1976.
What's interesting is that I'm getting some references I suspect I might have missed back then.
----------------------
Anyone else out there remember Mary?
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
3814 Cable again
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Back in mid-December I called the cable TV/internet folks and got rid of all the extra channels I never watch. Went to "basic". Returned the now unneeded set-top boxes. I thought I'd end up with just the basic networks - CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS - and some local stuff.
It turns out I have way more than 88 channels.
I went through and eliminated from the automatic list the 16 Spanish channels. Every little municipality has at least one, more usually three, of their own channels - one public access, one townhall, one for school stuff. I eliminated most of them.
I'm still left with a lot more than I expected - like 3 PBS channels with different programming (one is all children's shows), ION, a movie channel, weather channel, QUBO, and loads of stuff with names like CREATE, LIFE, BOUNCE, THIS, RISE, WORLD, and so on --- I don't even know what they are.
And I'm not particularly interested in finding out.
I wonder if there might be a BBC or a CNN tucked in there somewhere. They might be the only channels I'll miss.
.
Back in mid-December I called the cable TV/internet folks and got rid of all the extra channels I never watch. Went to "basic". Returned the now unneeded set-top boxes. I thought I'd end up with just the basic networks - CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS - and some local stuff.
It turns out I have way more than 88 channels.
I went through and eliminated from the automatic list the 16 Spanish channels. Every little municipality has at least one, more usually three, of their own channels - one public access, one townhall, one for school stuff. I eliminated most of them.
I'm still left with a lot more than I expected - like 3 PBS channels with different programming (one is all children's shows), ION, a movie channel, weather channel, QUBO, and loads of stuff with names like CREATE, LIFE, BOUNCE, THIS, RISE, WORLD, and so on --- I don't even know what they are.
And I'm not particularly interested in finding out.
I wonder if there might be a BBC or a CNN tucked in there somewhere. They might be the only channels I'll miss.
.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
3623 National recognition for volunteers? Yeah, sure.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Lamarr Wilson (Wilsontech1 on YouTube) made some good points in a recent video blog (now called, Heaven help us, a "vlog") about those nationally televised awards shows, in particular the recent Emmys, but by extension also the Oscars. He points out that actors are paid, and in most cases overpaid, to act. So why is there a nationally televised awards show to honor those who simply do their job? Especially a superficial job, not exactly a great contribution to humanity?
Why not a nationally televised awards show, Lamarr asks, for the best cops? Or firefighters? Or teachers? Or doctors? Or volunteers? Or my own contribution - why not televise the awarding of the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes?
(Lamarr points out that many of the best shows never win awards, but crappy "Two and a Half Men" has won 9 Emmys. Actually, that's a bit misleading. Eight of those Emmys were for cinematography, not for a wonderful script, or storyline, or acting. One went to Jon Cryer for playing Alan, which I can sort of agree with.)
An aside - being nominated for an Emmy is not itself an honor. Show producers nominate their own shows. They send in clips for consideration in various categories. Practically everyone who nominates themselves is "nominated". Nomination has no meaning whatsoever. It doesn't matter how wonderful your show is, if you don't send clips or send them in time, then you aren't nominated. Shrug. And that's why many of the best most-loved shows never win anything - simply because the producers didn't nominate the show, for whatever reason. Some producers have been known to hold this over actors' heads. "Straighten up, or we won't nominate you."
In my opinion, the Oscar and Emmy shows, and the red carpet, and "best and worst dressed", and all the crap surrounding them, are all simply the industry people networking with each other, and the televised parts are nothing more than a multi-hour commercial foisted on us. Really. It's just a commercial. They're selling you their product.
So, are there any nationally televised awards shows for anything that matters? Anything that contributes to society? Ok, elections, if you consider public office an award for effective campaigning. What else? Hmmmm. We have beauty pageants. Talent shows. Sports shows.
Nope, nothing much that matters. Bread and circuses. Ho hum.
.
The most exciting phrase to hear in science,
the one that heralds new discoveries,
is not "Eureka!', but
"That's funny..."
-- Isaac Asimov --
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Lamarr Wilson (Wilsontech1 on YouTube) made some good points in a recent video blog (now called, Heaven help us, a "vlog") about those nationally televised awards shows, in particular the recent Emmys, but by extension also the Oscars. He points out that actors are paid, and in most cases overpaid, to act. So why is there a nationally televised awards show to honor those who simply do their job? Especially a superficial job, not exactly a great contribution to humanity?
Why not a nationally televised awards show, Lamarr asks, for the best cops? Or firefighters? Or teachers? Or doctors? Or volunteers? Or my own contribution - why not televise the awarding of the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes?
(Lamarr points out that many of the best shows never win awards, but crappy "Two and a Half Men" has won 9 Emmys. Actually, that's a bit misleading. Eight of those Emmys were for cinematography, not for a wonderful script, or storyline, or acting. One went to Jon Cryer for playing Alan, which I can sort of agree with.)
An aside - being nominated for an Emmy is not itself an honor. Show producers nominate their own shows. They send in clips for consideration in various categories. Practically everyone who nominates themselves is "nominated". Nomination has no meaning whatsoever. It doesn't matter how wonderful your show is, if you don't send clips or send them in time, then you aren't nominated. Shrug. And that's why many of the best most-loved shows never win anything - simply because the producers didn't nominate the show, for whatever reason. Some producers have been known to hold this over actors' heads. "Straighten up, or we won't nominate you."
In my opinion, the Oscar and Emmy shows, and the red carpet, and "best and worst dressed", and all the crap surrounding them, are all simply the industry people networking with each other, and the televised parts are nothing more than a multi-hour commercial foisted on us. Really. It's just a commercial. They're selling you their product.
So, are there any nationally televised awards shows for anything that matters? Anything that contributes to society? Ok, elections, if you consider public office an award for effective campaigning. What else? Hmmmm. We have beauty pageants. Talent shows. Sports shows.
Nope, nothing much that matters. Bread and circuses. Ho hum.
.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
3168 TV Freakout
Sunday, November 21, 2010
I checked out cable TV for the new house online this morning. Apparently, there is only one company that services this area, Optimum.
According to their website, they do have a basic service for $17.29 per month plus $1.50 for each additional TV set, which has a whole slew of channels, including ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, FOX, and CNN, which is pretty much all I want. I don't need all those fancy cable-only channels; it's dangerous for me to have too much choice. I'd never get anything done. (And if someone who visits often wants more, like sports and comedy, he's welcome to pay the extra for it.)
The price for basic was right, the selection was adequate, so I tried to order it online. And hit a snag. Basic isn't an option to order. I can order all kinds of fancy packages, but not basic.
So I finally gave up (their website is impossible to navigate, I went around in circles) and called the phone number to order service.
I got an entirely different story from what the website says, and then the conversation with the Optimum rep went even farther off the rails.
Me: "I just tried to order service on your website, and went around in circles."
Brittany: "You don't want to do it on the website anyway. They don't even look at those orders for two weeks. On the telephone, we put it right in."
Me: "Ok. I want to get Basic service." ((I have already lost confidence in this bunch.))
Brittany: "For Basic you get 10 channels for $29 dollars."
Me: "That's not what the website said. It says Basic gets a rather large set of non-premium channels for $17.29."
Brittany: "No. Just ten. $29."
Me: "Do those 10 channels include ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and PBS? If so, that's enough for me."
Brittany: "No. To get those channels you need the IO Family package. That's $44.95 a month."
Me: "That seems like a lot for channels I'm currently pulling in off the air with rabbit ears."
Brittany: "Well, you won't be able to do that much longer. Those channels are going digital pretty soon, so you won't be able to get them with an antenna. Not without a digital box, anyway."
Me: ((Huh? Long pause. What the hell is she talking about?)) "Uh, the channels I'm getting ARE digital, and I've got digital TV sets. I'm watching them in digital. Off the air. With the antenna on the set."
Brittany: "Well, you won't be able to much longer."
Me: ((This woman is nuts. Or she's been in cold storage for more than a year.)) "Are you folks the only cable company serving this area?"
Brittany: "Yes. Very few people in your area have satellite because of the weather."
Me: "So, what do I need to get the channels I want, for how much?"
Brittany: "You'll need the Family package. That's $44.95 per month. How many sets will you have?"
Me: "Three or four." ((One in my bedroom, one in the workroom, one in the kitchen, maybe one in the living room.))
Brittany: "Well for three boxes, that's $65.86, and for four it's $75.75."
Me: "That's almost $10 extra for each box. Your website says less than $2 for each additional." (($10? For WHAT?))
Brittany: ((Silence.))
Me: "This is ridiculous. I'm going to have to speak to some of the neighbors."
Brittany: ((Silence.))
Me: "Bye." ((Click.))
Now, am I nuts or badly informed? Is she nuts? Is this normally what basic cable service, including local broadcast channels, goes for? Especially when it's the only service and therefore there's no competition, and therefore they should be regulated?
None of the numbers she quoted have any relation to the numbers on the website, neither price nor channels available. Can I report them to someone for false advertising, or bait and switch, or something? And to whom?
Something is very wrong here.
.
“Men are so blind that they even take pride in their blindness.”
-- Augustine of Hippo --
----------------------------------------------------
-- Augustine of Hippo --
----------------------------------------------------
I checked out cable TV for the new house online this morning. Apparently, there is only one company that services this area, Optimum.
According to their website, they do have a basic service for $17.29 per month plus $1.50 for each additional TV set, which has a whole slew of channels, including ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, FOX, and CNN, which is pretty much all I want. I don't need all those fancy cable-only channels; it's dangerous for me to have too much choice. I'd never get anything done. (And if someone who visits often wants more, like sports and comedy, he's welcome to pay the extra for it.)
The price for basic was right, the selection was adequate, so I tried to order it online. And hit a snag. Basic isn't an option to order. I can order all kinds of fancy packages, but not basic.
So I finally gave up (their website is impossible to navigate, I went around in circles) and called the phone number to order service.
I got an entirely different story from what the website says, and then the conversation with the Optimum rep went even farther off the rails.
Me: "I just tried to order service on your website, and went around in circles."
Brittany: "You don't want to do it on the website anyway. They don't even look at those orders for two weeks. On the telephone, we put it right in."
Me: "Ok. I want to get Basic service." ((I have already lost confidence in this bunch.))
Brittany: "For Basic you get 10 channels for $29 dollars."
Me: "That's not what the website said. It says Basic gets a rather large set of non-premium channels for $17.29."
Brittany: "No. Just ten. $29."
Me: "Do those 10 channels include ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and PBS? If so, that's enough for me."
Brittany: "No. To get those channels you need the IO Family package. That's $44.95 a month."
Me: "That seems like a lot for channels I'm currently pulling in off the air with rabbit ears."
Brittany: "Well, you won't be able to do that much longer. Those channels are going digital pretty soon, so you won't be able to get them with an antenna. Not without a digital box, anyway."
Me: ((Huh? Long pause. What the hell is she talking about?)) "Uh, the channels I'm getting ARE digital, and I've got digital TV sets. I'm watching them in digital. Off the air. With the antenna on the set."
Brittany: "Well, you won't be able to much longer."
Me: ((This woman is nuts. Or she's been in cold storage for more than a year.)) "Are you folks the only cable company serving this area?"
Brittany: "Yes. Very few people in your area have satellite because of the weather."
Me: "So, what do I need to get the channels I want, for how much?"
Brittany: "You'll need the Family package. That's $44.95 per month. How many sets will you have?"
Me: "Three or four." ((One in my bedroom, one in the workroom, one in the kitchen, maybe one in the living room.))
Brittany: "Well for three boxes, that's $65.86, and for four it's $75.75."
Me: "That's almost $10 extra for each box. Your website says less than $2 for each additional." (($10? For WHAT?))
Brittany: ((Silence.))
Me: "This is ridiculous. I'm going to have to speak to some of the neighbors."
Brittany: ((Silence.))
Me: "Bye." ((Click.))
Now, am I nuts or badly informed? Is she nuts? Is this normally what basic cable service, including local broadcast channels, goes for? Especially when it's the only service and therefore there's no competition, and therefore they should be regulated?
None of the numbers she quoted have any relation to the numbers on the website, neither price nor channels available. Can I report them to someone for false advertising, or bait and switch, or something? And to whom?
Something is very wrong here.
.
Monday, November 15, 2010
3161 Oddities
Monday, November 15, 2010
I don't agree with Will up there in the green if he meant that those are the only ways to learn. Another way to learn is by doing. But maybe it's a tongue-in-cheek play on one of my biggest peeves - the misplacement of the modifier "only". The "only" here modifies the "learns", not the "two ways" as most people would interpret it. In that case, he's correct. In reading and in associating with smarter people, a man "only learns".
--------------------------------
A weirdness about the house - just before the heat goes on, before the actual burner fires, not just the fan, there's a section of outside wall between the window and the bathtub in the master bath that ticks. It sounds like water dripping. The wall will start ticking, and within three minutes I'll hear the whoosh of the furnace firing. Weird.
A weirdness about me - I normally go to bed around 11 pm or later. But lately, I'm looking at my watch thinking of bed at 7 or 8 pm. Last night I went to bed at 9. Weird.
A weirdness about outside - I hear more birds, of greater variety, here than I did in the mid-Hudson valley, weird enough in itself, and there are more squirrels close to the houses. So this morning I threw some bits of (whole wheat, slightly mold-spotted) bread out on the back patio, hoping to attract some birds or squirrels for Jasper's viewing pleasure. The bread is still there, untouched, at 10 pm. Weird.
A weirdness about the neighborhood - there are some very small houses, like 15 feet wide, and the smaller the house, the larger the TV set visible through the living room windows. The set across the street has to be at least 6 feet by 8 feet. I've noticed that before in other areas. I think it's weird. (Maybe I'm just more attuned to investment considerations....)
.
"A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by
association with smarter people."
-- Will Rogers --
-----------------------------------------------------
association with smarter people."
-- Will Rogers --
-----------------------------------------------------
I don't agree with Will up there in the green if he meant that those are the only ways to learn. Another way to learn is by doing. But maybe it's a tongue-in-cheek play on one of my biggest peeves - the misplacement of the modifier "only". The "only" here modifies the "learns", not the "two ways" as most people would interpret it. In that case, he's correct. In reading and in associating with smarter people, a man "only learns".
--------------------------------
A weirdness about the house - just before the heat goes on, before the actual burner fires, not just the fan, there's a section of outside wall between the window and the bathtub in the master bath that ticks. It sounds like water dripping. The wall will start ticking, and within three minutes I'll hear the whoosh of the furnace firing. Weird.
A weirdness about me - I normally go to bed around 11 pm or later. But lately, I'm looking at my watch thinking of bed at 7 or 8 pm. Last night I went to bed at 9. Weird.
A weirdness about outside - I hear more birds, of greater variety, here than I did in the mid-Hudson valley, weird enough in itself, and there are more squirrels close to the houses. So this morning I threw some bits of (whole wheat, slightly mold-spotted) bread out on the back patio, hoping to attract some birds or squirrels for Jasper's viewing pleasure. The bread is still there, untouched, at 10 pm. Weird.
A weirdness about the neighborhood - there are some very small houses, like 15 feet wide, and the smaller the house, the larger the TV set visible through the living room windows. The set across the street has to be at least 6 feet by 8 feet. I've noticed that before in other areas. I think it's weird. (Maybe I'm just more attuned to investment considerations....)
.
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