Okay, I've been debating my hatred for Under the Dome for a lot of the past 12 hours. so I figured I'd take some time out of that and do a quick breakdown of the different types of shows on TV
theres only a few different types of TV shows. and I'll mention but skip over the news and infomercials because lets face it, the news is important, yet no one watches it anymore.
1. The news, Talkshows, and Infomercials:
their main focus is to give you information, the lowest watched on the list for the most part. To me the news is important sure, no matter how many useless stories about famous people doing useless stuff.
2. Competition Reality shows:
Like American Idol, or Top shot, or Heroes of Cosplay. Admittedly I like some of these. Im not much of an American Idol or xfactor fan though. I enjoyed Top shot and Heroes of Cosplay, but when the contestants bitch between themselves it just gets frustrating. I mean, the worlds best cosplayers somehow resort to bickering and whining? it's a fun genre yet the devotion to loud obnoxious characters. Most recently Big Brother has annoyed me the most. Every character has to be loud and conflicting with the other people in the house. theres only so many flaming gay guys you can put in one room with Jesus freaks before the shit hits the fan. it's a decent type of show but the characters inside the show are the crippling factor
3. Pure Reality Show:
Like Here comes honey boo boo and jersey shore. Bottom of the barrel tv. these are unbelievably cheap to make. Most often its just a camera crew following a single person or group around. no actors or writers. well, there are writers. and in the case of the two horrible shows above they purposely make drama and resort to yelling and drunkenness. these shows are directly responsible for the downfall of tv. I hate these kinds of shows and I'll never understand why people watch them.
4. Comedy shows:
I'm being rather broad here, but im including all sitcoms on right now, but not including animation, yet. its a good medium and for the most part the shows are funny. there are of course exceptions. Comedies have been a staple of TV for decades. Everyone has a favorite comedy, Big Bang theory, Office, Parks and Rec, 30 Rock, Community. the short run time help it immensely and the unconnected storylines make it easy to jump in and out of the shows at will.
5. Gameshows:
jeopardy, wheel of fortune, who wants to be a millionaire. Im not gonna bother describing these. we all know gameshows
6. Animation:
Either kids shows like nihao kailan of spongebob or anime and the simpsons, animation is cheap to make and a very visual medium. animation shows are usually not the most watched but they get a very strong following and for the most part have unconnected storylines. apart from anime, anime should be it's own genre. American animation is all about pop in pop out viewing. if you miss an episode, no problem! this is good for a short form show
7. Weekly issue drama
Its tough to classify this genre. but ill give some examples. Supernatural, Smallville, CSI, Law and Order, Elementary, Castle. Most of these shows start with a 'stinger' a victim getting murdered or a creature appearing and the rest of the episode is set up as solving the crime. Sure it's a fine format for crime and 'case based' shows but sometimes shows that have a very large storyline going on insist on having a per episode format. case in point Under the Dome. it has a very obvious continuing story yet it insist on having the weeks issue wrapped up nice and neatly at the end of the episode. take for example the water episode. starts with a guy saying 'we're almost out of water but we'll be fine if the water tower still stands. woman crashes into the water tower. rest of the episode is a water crisis. at the end it rains, never mentioned again. This kind of format is great for casual viewing and its good if the stories aren't part of the overall storyline. but as a hardcore viewer this format is just lazy when not set with cops or detectives. it also is the most prone to blatant advertising. theres only so many times Sherlock can check his windows phone or a cop can get a nice refreshing dr. pepper as his friend asks how the dr pepper is.
8. Continuing story drama
Dexter, Breaking bad, 24, Lost. newsroom, true blood,
I love this genre. this genre is what TV should be, it's long form movies basically, character development and evolving story lines. payoffs and good writing. I love the way, say, breaking bad can introduce a character and have the character continue for multiple weeks and develop into a character we actually care about, unlike freak of the weeks shows where only the main characters have any personality. the problem with these shows is that they tend to lose viewers as the series goes on. if you miss an episode its tough to watch the next episode without being lost. and as the writing gets more complex the show gets harder to follow.
Take for example LOST. I loved this show from start to finish, yes I liked the ending. It started very very strong. and throughout the next 6 seasons it slowly bled viewers. most dropping out in season 3 just as they were starting to really ramp up the series. its a shame that they lose viewers but its just the way it is.
Breaking bad has only gotten better from the start and it's gaining quite a following. which is great it deserves it.
another issue with the long form storytelling that its hard to get product placement. I mean if Dexter morgan has an iphone in one episode he's not going to randomly have a droid in the next so he can show it off. Personally this makes me happy though, thank god they don't do this. I'll do a whole other post about bad product placement at a later time
- And yes yes I know there are some exceptions here and there but almost every show can be classified by these guidelines
Anyway, I only have one episode of Elementary left and I feel like making a list before I go buy Supernatural, Big Bang theory, Castle, homeland and star trek 2 on DVD.
I'll be back shortly with a list of shows and such!
theres only a few different types of TV shows. and I'll mention but skip over the news and infomercials because lets face it, the news is important, yet no one watches it anymore.
1. The news, Talkshows, and Infomercials:
their main focus is to give you information, the lowest watched on the list for the most part. To me the news is important sure, no matter how many useless stories about famous people doing useless stuff.
2. Competition Reality shows:
Like American Idol, or Top shot, or Heroes of Cosplay. Admittedly I like some of these. Im not much of an American Idol or xfactor fan though. I enjoyed Top shot and Heroes of Cosplay, but when the contestants bitch between themselves it just gets frustrating. I mean, the worlds best cosplayers somehow resort to bickering and whining? it's a fun genre yet the devotion to loud obnoxious characters. Most recently Big Brother has annoyed me the most. Every character has to be loud and conflicting with the other people in the house. theres only so many flaming gay guys you can put in one room with Jesus freaks before the shit hits the fan. it's a decent type of show but the characters inside the show are the crippling factor
3. Pure Reality Show:
Like Here comes honey boo boo and jersey shore. Bottom of the barrel tv. these are unbelievably cheap to make. Most often its just a camera crew following a single person or group around. no actors or writers. well, there are writers. and in the case of the two horrible shows above they purposely make drama and resort to yelling and drunkenness. these shows are directly responsible for the downfall of tv. I hate these kinds of shows and I'll never understand why people watch them.
4. Comedy shows:
I'm being rather broad here, but im including all sitcoms on right now, but not including animation, yet. its a good medium and for the most part the shows are funny. there are of course exceptions. Comedies have been a staple of TV for decades. Everyone has a favorite comedy, Big Bang theory, Office, Parks and Rec, 30 Rock, Community. the short run time help it immensely and the unconnected storylines make it easy to jump in and out of the shows at will.
5. Gameshows:
jeopardy, wheel of fortune, who wants to be a millionaire. Im not gonna bother describing these. we all know gameshows
6. Animation:
Either kids shows like nihao kailan of spongebob or anime and the simpsons, animation is cheap to make and a very visual medium. animation shows are usually not the most watched but they get a very strong following and for the most part have unconnected storylines. apart from anime, anime should be it's own genre. American animation is all about pop in pop out viewing. if you miss an episode, no problem! this is good for a short form show
7. Weekly issue drama
Its tough to classify this genre. but ill give some examples. Supernatural, Smallville, CSI, Law and Order, Elementary, Castle. Most of these shows start with a 'stinger' a victim getting murdered or a creature appearing and the rest of the episode is set up as solving the crime. Sure it's a fine format for crime and 'case based' shows but sometimes shows that have a very large storyline going on insist on having a per episode format. case in point Under the Dome. it has a very obvious continuing story yet it insist on having the weeks issue wrapped up nice and neatly at the end of the episode. take for example the water episode. starts with a guy saying 'we're almost out of water but we'll be fine if the water tower still stands. woman crashes into the water tower. rest of the episode is a water crisis. at the end it rains, never mentioned again. This kind of format is great for casual viewing and its good if the stories aren't part of the overall storyline. but as a hardcore viewer this format is just lazy when not set with cops or detectives. it also is the most prone to blatant advertising. theres only so many times Sherlock can check his windows phone or a cop can get a nice refreshing dr. pepper as his friend asks how the dr pepper is.
8. Continuing story drama
Dexter, Breaking bad, 24, Lost. newsroom, true blood,
I love this genre. this genre is what TV should be, it's long form movies basically, character development and evolving story lines. payoffs and good writing. I love the way, say, breaking bad can introduce a character and have the character continue for multiple weeks and develop into a character we actually care about, unlike freak of the weeks shows where only the main characters have any personality. the problem with these shows is that they tend to lose viewers as the series goes on. if you miss an episode its tough to watch the next episode without being lost. and as the writing gets more complex the show gets harder to follow.
Take for example LOST. I loved this show from start to finish, yes I liked the ending. It started very very strong. and throughout the next 6 seasons it slowly bled viewers. most dropping out in season 3 just as they were starting to really ramp up the series. its a shame that they lose viewers but its just the way it is.
Breaking bad has only gotten better from the start and it's gaining quite a following. which is great it deserves it.
another issue with the long form storytelling that its hard to get product placement. I mean if Dexter morgan has an iphone in one episode he's not going to randomly have a droid in the next so he can show it off. Personally this makes me happy though, thank god they don't do this. I'll do a whole other post about bad product placement at a later time
- And yes yes I know there are some exceptions here and there but almost every show can be classified by these guidelines
Anyway, I only have one episode of Elementary left and I feel like making a list before I go buy Supernatural, Big Bang theory, Castle, homeland and star trek 2 on DVD.
I'll be back shortly with a list of shows and such!
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