one show I find really ground breaking is orange is the new black. Its really the first show of its kind in that most of the characters on the show are female and they're actually nuanced and three dimensional - quirky, deeply flawed, witty, scrappy. A few of them are attractive but none are attractive in the typical unattainable Hollywood way. Most are average looking and some are downright unattractive. Roles like that don't come around very often for women. They didn't make shows like this back in the day
Viewer expectations and standards have increased a lot in my lifetime. I can't believe what used to pass for quality entertainment back in the day. Last year, I watched an old episode of the original Hawaii Five-0, and one of the original Star Trek series. They were so juvenile and simplistic. I was kind of embarrassed that I ever liked them, even as a child. There's soooo much quality material of all kinds on cable today. Thanks to On Demand and DVR, there's no reason to miss any of it, no matter what my schedule is. With a good home sound system, a concert in HD is better than being there.
A lot of the juvenile simplistic or innocent characters of past programming reflect degrees of censorship. It takes a lot of meat off the bones across the whole spectrum, drama, humor, adventure, and so on.
Amos N Andy. Captain Midnight, Rawhide, Sky King, Fury, The Ed Sullivan Show, Topper, Sea Hunt, What's My Line.... And who can forget Ernest T. Bass?
One thing about the last decade for TV though is there seems to be a big gapping void when it comes to Sci fi TV shows One point in the late 90s you had 6 popular ones running at the same time. Now theres maybe one or two that arent exactly sci fi anyway
Amos n' Andy was a classic. Kingfish: awwww--you ain't got enough sense to come in outta' the rain! Brown: I does too. Ise done it lotsa times! Wish folks weren't so sensitive about that one. Hell, white folks are making fools of themselves all the time. (Life of Reilly)
I've been reading that television quality has increased exponentially, accompanied by the recent plunge in the quality of cinema. All of the best talent going into television.
Continuum, Defiance, Falling Skies, Orphan Black, I could name more. A couple new ones just started that look really good too, Killjoys and Dark Matter. There is a lot of amazing Sci-Fi out there right now.
Falling skies is good, but its really more a survivorlist show. Defiance is kooky, more a.western Was talking more about phaser canons, hyperspace and transporter beams
That's one very specific type of sci-fi. Don't get me wrong, I loooove old sci-fi like star trek, Stargate SG1, or my favourite, Firefly, but I actually think it has come a long way since the days of formulaic plot points and lack of story continuity. I'll admit that those older shows were great, but basically the same thing happened every episode. I think television sci-fi is finally reaching the level of some of the better sci-fi books out there. I'm also holding out for some phasers and hyperspace in Killjoys. It's about space bounty hunters.
I think TV is way, way better now. But my perspective is that I have never watched mediocre shows. Life is too short. For instance, I never watched the Brady Bunch or Sanford and Sons or Different Strokes or Growing Pains or the Facts of Life or Full House. Those shows are way over-rated. So, I'm talking about comparing the best of the old shows with the best of the new shows. First of all, we now have HD which makes picture and sound much better. Secondly, the best TV shows now are better than the best movies. Movies are 80% crap now and all the sex is removed so that they can appeal to audiences in India and China. TV shows, especially on Showtime and HBO, are less censored and have much better scripts. I'm talking about Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Californication, Masters of Sex, Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, House of Cards, Homeland, Nurse Jackie, True Blood, Shameless, Weeds, The Borgias, The Blacklist ...
Fuckin' laff tracks. We didn't have a TV 'till I was 12 or 13, so I didn't watch any at all. Too busy out and about.. But I remember trying to watch some shows and damned if I didn't hear the SAME RHEUMY LAUGH at the end of the most of the so-called "jokes,", proving it was the exact same laff track used for a bunch of shows! Insipid bullshit given---hilarious laughter to follow. Any show that uses one means the writing is lousy. Case in point: Two Broke Girls. Simplistic double entendres(sp) on the level of the 5th grade.