What TV series are you watching at moment?

[Terpentintollwut]

I've watched some episodes on youtube a while back, the comments suggested otherwise.

Somebody had even written:

 

who cares if it's real or not, it's ENTERTAINING!

 

 

Maybe the fact that it's staged annoys me so much because it's such a fun and simple concept, it would be logical for it NOT to be fake. Most friends would do these competitions for the sake of doing the competitions, but as soon as TV comes into play, it's back to staging and scripting etc ... a million YouTubers would do this genuinely.

 

In fact, there was a German Rip-Off of the franchise some years back ("Elton vs. Simon"), in which they actually did the competitions (at least in some of the episodes). It even had the same opening credits and music. It was later adapted into a live show with several mini-competitions. Very low-brow but at least it was some honest bullshit.

[Nebraska]

 

unsolved mysteries is like the real-life twin peaks- but multiple stories that all take place in the midwest. this was today's "highlight" episode

[awepittance]

i hate to break it to anybody out there who believes reality shows are anything remotely 'real' but they are all staged in one way or another. Even the ones that aren't staged or predetermined are still staged in the sense that they do re-takes of 'emotional events'.

House of Cards is pretty decent, way better than any other american show about politics. It runs circles around that shitty show Newsroom

[hma]

Started to watch House of Cards, have seen five episodes and I really like it so far. Before that tried to watch Da Vinci`s Demons, meh.

Edited May 20, 2013 by zemudene

[Guest abracadabra]

 

 

 

Kenny vs. Spenny

 

All episodes found here on Kenny Hotz' YouTube channel. Well, most episodes. Some episodes had to be taken off probably because of YouTube's policies, such as "Who Can Keep a Dump in Their Pants the Longest?" and "Who Can Have Sex with More Women?"

 

Didn't the guy who always lost pretty much quit the show because he was psychologically damaged from all that abuse. Or was that all made up?

 

 

Dudes, Kenny vs. Spenny was the most obviously scripted show ever.

 

...yeah, I thought that was understood.

 

"Yeah, we're just playing ourselves and I hate it when people say it's fake. We shoot 30 hours, cut for twenty minutes, throw some cool music in there, like Bach or Mozart, put it together and find it extremely simple to do what we do. It sucks. The show is torture because every week we have to stay awake for a week, or find out how much weight we can gain in a week, or not use our arms. It sucks. We've written a show where we torture ourselves. I think the reason we do it is because at the end of the day, after all the shit we go through, we see the inherent value of the show, the piece of art, dare I say. It's something we're both very proud of. We've never seen something like this on television, and we're hoping that the US can promote it properly. We're certainly on the right broadcaster, and have behind us, so either this thing is going to take off or it's going to crash and burn, but we believe in the show." -- Kenny Hotz

 

I can see how certain things can be sorta scripted, like the "Who Can Sell More Bibles?" episode. But I honestly don't think it's 100% scripted.

[awepittance]

House of Cards is becoming pretty addicting. Although it's hard to believe Kevin Spacey playing a straight man (the cunnilingus scene was among the gayest i've ever seen) I like how they threw in the fact that he was bi-curious in college.

[Candiru]

The Wire.

 

6 episodes into the first season. You know that feeling you get when you just start watching The Wire, and you're like "I'm so glad I'm on this journey, guys." That's what I'm feeling right now. Guys, watch The Wire.

[Guest Frankie5fingers]

i hate to break it to anybody out there who believes reality shows are anything remotely 'real' but they are all staged in one way or another. Even the ones that aren't staged or predetermined are still staged in the sense that they do re-takes of 'emotional events'.

you should watch The Joe Schmo Show. it is the real deal, cause the entire show puts a real person, and i might add one of the nicest people they can find, in a staged environment just to see how he would naturally react to crazy outlandish situations. basically, its putting a guy in a staged environment, like most reality shows are, but they dont tell him. so all the emotions the guy gives is unscripted and they cant tell him to do it again cause that would give away the secret. its basically one of the few "true" reality shows.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Frankie5fingers

[awepittance]

thats interesting because i watched the 1st season of that show and couldn't shake the suspicion that he was an actor all along, and that he was never truly ignorant to the events unfolding. The previews for the new season are undoubtedly fully staged though. Not sure which season you're talking about.

[MadameChaos]

I'm watching Hunderby. It's very subtly funny, but still funny.

[Guest Frankie5fingers]

thats interesting because i watched the 1st season of that show and couldn't shake the suspicion that he was an actor all along, and that he was never truly ignorant to the events unfolding. The previews for the new season are undoubtedly fully staged though. Not sure which season you're talking about.

well the first season was the best. the dude had a mental breakdown at the end. i actually didnt see the second, but i did like the third one.

i mean, i know where youre coming from. i hate most reality shows too because they arent "real." but at no point did i ever get the feeling that this was one of those. maybe i just really want it to be real so i fully believe that it is. at the end of the day, because of all the shit, youll never know which reality shows are real and which ones arent. if is isnt real then i think they did a pretty amazing job at covering it up.

[rixxx]

you guys should watch made in chelsea, it's beaut.

 

Keeps me firmly planted in my working class roots.

[YO303]

I recommend Family Tree, charming, funny, etc.

[awepittance]

house of cards is a very good show, just finished up the season. I'm honestly shocked at how much I enjoyed it, i usually don't like any political movies or shows (besides In the Loop). It is also refreshingly non partisan, it just helps you imagine how fucked up Washington actually is.

and..

[Guest Iain C]

house of cards is a very good show, just finished up the season. I'm honestly shocked at how much I enjoyed it, i usually don't like any political movies or shows (besides In the Loop). It is also refreshingly non partisan, it just helps you imagine how fucked up Washington actually is. 

 

 

and..

 

 

If you like it you should check out the original British version. It's dated in some respects, it's remarkably partisan (it portrays the tories as the animals they are, and labour barely get a mention - although this is down to the era in which it was produced), and some bits are awkward and clunky. But it's all held together by some truly wicked dialogue and a malevolently lovable anti-hero in Francis Urquhart.

 

PS my girlfriend has just added that you should also watch The Thick of It (although I assume you already may have?) because it is "miles better" than In The Loop.

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Edited May 23, 2013 by Iain C

[awepittance]

yeah sorry my bad, i meant thick of it when i said in the loop.

I forgot to mention that the only other good political show I've seen that isn't comedy is K Street by Steven Soderbergh, i think it was on showtime originally. It stars mostly real politicians.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Street_(TV_series)

i think i know which scene they are talking about in this article, where they actually film (in the framework of a fictionalized story) a real coaching session with Carville, Paul Beluga and Howard Dean. Thinking back on it it does seem like at least Dean and Beluga thought they were appearing in a documentary and not a scripted TV show.

Edited May 23, 2013 by John Ehrlichman

[Alcofribas]

i hate to break it to anybody out there who believes reality shows are anything remotely 'real' but they are all staged in one way or another. Even the ones that aren't staged or predetermined are still staged in the sense that they do re-takes of 'emotional events'.

 

when i was like 7 or 8 i was going to be in an episode of "unsolved mysteries". i played some random kid on a school bus but i never made it into the final cut. this makes me lol Edited May 23, 2013 by Alcofribas

[Drix]

Hours upon hours of a crushing hangover today resulted in me finishing up the first season of Hemlock Grove, and although the first episode is so bad I have no idea how I ended up giving it another chance, it's a pretty ok series overall. A few flaws here and there, but you get used to them and don't notice them at all after a few episodes. I'll definitely follow over to the next season.

[SR4]

Game of Thrones, halfway through season 2. I haven't been this obsessed with a show since The Wire. Just a lot of fun, and pretty good writing.

[Terpentintollwut]

Latest episode of Hannibal was probably the best one yet. Almost no cheesy elements or major fuck-ups (like last week's episode)

I don't know why I'm obsessed with this show, it keeps disappointing me, but it has such potential ...

[goDel]

Watching House of Cards atm. Loving Spacey play such characters. Although those talking to the audience bits seem a bit off. Spacey is a good enough actor for the audience to read his thoughts from his face. There's no need to make those blunt statements for the audience.

[Guest RadarJammer]

Watching House of Cards atm. Loving Spacey play such characters. Although those talking to the audience bits seem a bit off. Spacey is a good enough actor for the audience to read his thoughts from his face. There's no need to make those blunt statements for the audience.

 

i thought the same thing but then i realized they were just following the style of the original UK 1990 version of the show so It was forgivable

Edited July 20, 2013 by RadarJammer

[Suffocate Peon]

Watching the final season of Six Feet Under. It's incredible. I think most SFU fans regard the first and second season to be it at its best, but for me i began to love the show from the 3rd season onwards. I distinctively remember the first season really underwhelming me, and the second season focussing so much on Nate and Brenda it got tiring. They felt narrower because they focussed on too few characters, season 3 added some more, and any scene with Claire doing art of any kind is so satisfying and brilliantly observed. The fifth season deals with so much more weightier subjects, each episode deals with a closure of some kind, each one is as moving as the most dramatic films i can think of. It feels like the show is really coming into its own, there's a kind of existential sadness at the heart of some of the characters, scenes don't seem so much like therapy sessions, characters feel more rounded.

 

I have 3 episodes to go, already it's one of my favourite seasons of a tv show, I'd place it alongside the 4th season of The Wire, it feels similar in theme, stuff happens, nothing really changes, that's life. The Wire is so much grander, Six Feet Under is more personal.

[Plarkreluke Banloboh]

Really enjoying Garth Marenghi's Dark Place and also watching the History of Science Documentary series from the BBC.

[Guest A/D]

Great thread, I often ask myself "What TV series am I watching at moment"