Oh How Things Have Changed...For The Worse.

[cosmicfolklore]

Really Ash, you'd take an 80's sitcom over Mad Men?
Jeesh, I hate to be a buzzkill with all of my positivity, ha ha. I'll just be out here with naked chicks with flamethrowers, while you guys all sulk around under your damp rocks, ha ha.

 

[warren]

I don't watch what I do not enjoy. There's usually something for everyone out there between theater releases and the computer.
I also grasp the fact that I'm no longer in the "target demographic." My kids have a weekly group where they gather around the big screen and watch a really bad movie. It's a social event. The movie industry, as a rule, goes in the direction of the money. Computer graphics have pretty much destroyed the genres of movies I enjoyed as a youngster.

Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Vikings, Breaking bad, Guardians of the Galaxy, Pandora, Satellite Radio, the internet...

I've never seen any of the above. My kids and their social set are fans of all of them. And, they are in the demo with money and time to spend on such. There isn't much in the way of today's movies/entertainment which piques my interest.

 

[ashdigger]

Cos of course there are good shows out there, but there are also just horrendous shows. My point is that just because you have 300 channels doesn't mean you have a larger slice of quality. I actually prefer shows from the U.K. or if I want to see the American version I can wait two years for a shitty copy of the original.

 

[aldecaker]

The ones that drive me a little nutty are the endless "comic book" movies with Batman, Superman, Batman vs. Superman, etc. etc. etc. Those comic books weren't that interesting when I was a kid, let alone now!
Jay, I did say I was sorry. In the interest of improved Anglo-American relations, PM me a destination and I'll send you a few boxes of Carter Hall as a peace offering.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Yeh, comic books. I never understood the attraction. You could never get enough action in any one book to understand what the heck was going on. And, how did you know whether you wanted to follow one, until you knew what was happening? And, I agree, they make terrible movies.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Hmmm, sorry you don't like boobs. It is an odd thing to admit in a public forum.

Not really, it just means I'm not 15 anymore.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Guardians of the Galaxy is a comic book BTW.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Guardians of the Galaxy is a comic book BTW.

Yes, but nowadays they do comicbook based movies them so much better. ::
Damn, what a pessimistic bunch of ninnies.
OK, ok, I'll let you guys sulk over how horrible things are today in comparison to the censored and repressed days of yore.

Have fun.

 

[warren]

Lotta youngster here! Comic books were great as a kid. We didn't have TV. I'm not saying we didn't have a TV. There was no TV in Alaska until the mid-50s. And, Saturday morning with the radio? Wow!

 

[jefff]

This thread sounds like my grandfather yelling about my music.

 

[jpmcwjr]

We in America have more dreck than anywhere else in the world, but also more good stuff available on the telly. What with hundreds of channels available to many folks, the problem becomes one of selective watching. There's the rub!

 

[aldecaker]

Warren, one of my greatest joys in life died when my local AM stations quit broadcasting "Old Time Radio Theatre" a few years ago. When I was young, it was only on Sunday afternoon and evening, extending into the wee hours. I had one of those crappy old transistor radios with the white cord and gigantic mushroom-shaped earpiece. Since Sunday was a school night, I got my ass beat more than once getting caught falling asleep with that thing in when I was supposed to be asleep! I guess I was incorrigible, because eventually it got smashed to bits as punishment.
Fibber Magee and Molly, The Great Gildersleeve, X Minus One, The Shadow, Lum and Abner, and a hundred others were great entertainment. I'm just glad it stayed on the air long enough to listen to with my son when he was very small.

 

[deathmetal]

The movie industry, as a rule, goes in the direction of the money.

It seems to me that everything does.

 

[sablebrush52]

They have been out of ideas for some time. The biggest part of this is the "workshop method" which encourages seeing characters through their circumstance instead of their moral, intellectual and emotional growth.
That being said, the industry is in flux. Cord-cutters have doomed cable; what is rising are television shows viewed through the internet, and so the focus has shifted there.

Not exactly. The delivery system is changing, but you still have to have a connection to access it.
What is the "workshop method"? Are you talking about method acting, as was taught by Lee Strasberg? Because if so, the description of it is way off.
Ideas are flowing constantly. Getting them made is another matter. It's a timid industry where the stakes for making a show can be very high. While there aren't a lot of risk takers in the executive ranks, there are enough to keep the creative pot bubbling and avoid complete entropy.
But a large part of what fuels the greenlighting process is only tangentially related to what you see on the screen. What largely rules the creative universe is marketing. And, one of the biggest considerations are toys, along with games, and various other content related consumer products. That's where the big money is.
Tits and kabooms make a lot of money. There's a huge audience for tits and kabooms. Fortunately that's not the whole market, and there is a lot of content for every taste. Lord knows, this time of year, because I'm a member of the Academy, I'm awash in content as the boxes of screeners pile up at my door prior to Emmy voting. And I have unlimited access to all of the contenders' products via the private streaming sites they set up for Academy members.
What's different are the newer players that have entered the streaming market over the past several years, companies like Amazon, who are making some very high quality shows, like Man In The High Castle, to stream off of their websites. Studios are setting up streaming sites for their first run product so you can buy a ticket for a new release and watch it at home. That could spell trouble for theater chains and restaurants. Cable companies will probably jump into the content fray to adapt to the changing marketplace. But the problem for them is that, while they do enjoy monopolies in the areas that they serve, they don't have a national presence. If people do continue to cut the cord, the basic cable connection rates will skyrocket.

 

[mso489]

Yeah, you really have to screen movies and series and such. It's an industry, much profit to be made, and too many people will watch anything, and enjoy it. So develop a method of screening that suits you. I think sometimes even an excellent production with good script, acting, direction, etc., that is an unpleasant downer is subject to discretion. If you don't like it, steer clear.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

and too many people will watch anything, and enjoy it.

HEATHENS!!! :: Ha ha!!

 

[didimauw]

I don't watch movie's, I just end up getting bored And falling asleep.

 

[sablebrush52]

Warren, one of my greatest joys in life died when my local AM stations quit broadcasting "Old Time Radio Theatre" a few years ago. When I was young, it was only on Sunday afternoon and evening, extending into the wee hours. I had one of those crappy old transistor radios with the white cord and gigantic mushroom-shaped earpiece. Since Sunday was a school night, I got my ass beat more than once getting caught falling asleep with that thing in when I was supposed to be asleep! I guess I was incorrigible, because eventually it got smashed to bits as punishment.
Fibber Magee and Molly, The Great Gildersleeve, X Minus One, The Shadow, Lum and Abner, and a hundred others were great entertainment. I'm just glad it stayed on the air long enough to listen to with my son when he was very small.

A huge amount of this content is available for listening on line:
https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio
http://www.otr.net/
http://www.otrr.org/pg09c_otherlinks.htm
There's one site that jiminks uses, which I forgot to bookmark, that has tens of thousands of programs available in a very easy to use format. Shoot him a PM and he'll be happy to send you the link. Old time radio is as big a passion for Jim as baseball, and pipes and tobaccos.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

 

[jpmcwjr]

Jesse beat me to it, with links already.
Fibber Magee, Sky King, Lone Ranger, The Shadow, Gildersleeve, Amos N Andy, The Night something. Also, "Music till Dawn", a Chicago station that played mostly classical music late at night to, well early morning! Bach's Air on a G String was their theme, though I think I've mangled the title. Still a favorite piece.
Edit: On reflection, I may have conflated radio offerings with early TV. Some were both, but not now sure of Sky King (and Penny!) or whether The Lone Ranger was also on radio. Same with Roy Rodgers, Tom Mix, Gene Autry, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, etc.... All of whom were TV and some perhaps radio, too.