By request
Mr. 1 On the Town made a personal request for me to weigh in on the new HBO series, Tell Me You Love Me. I can't say a whole lot because I haven't been able to stomach more than ten minutes at a time without flipping away in disgust. From what I've seen, it appears the creators mistakenly decided that what most television audiences crave are shows about miserable people in bad relationships. And to spice things up just a little, they also decided to throw in some "cutting edge" sex scenes (I have yet to see any of these scenes; every time I flip it on all I get are the miserable characters yapping away and being miserable). I'm beginning to think The Sopranos may have set a bad precedent for television show creators. In a race to be "edgy" now, we've been getting lots of shows with very unlikeable characters (Mad Men may have had the creepiest cast of characters I've ever seen in a television show; I even creeped myself out when I realized the only reason I continued to watch was for the long, tight skirts from the 60s that are amply on display).
posted by BayonneMike at 6:59 AM
8 Comments:
You should cold-cock Mr. 1 On the Town.
And I worry about you, BM. You've become somewhat of a "TV Optimist." Are you expecting that this Misery Meets Tittilation dreck will turn the corner? You can "flip away in disgust" one time, but one time only.
My wife thought it might be up her alley. When she screamed "this show sucks, and probably more so if you're a man," I didn't tempt fate.
Did you catch The War? I didn't but unless you say "it sucks, probably more so if you're a man," I want to give it a try.
This show looked from the beginning like the most boring, lifeless thing ever to limp onto television. I watched episode 1 on demand and fast-forwarded 20-30 minutes to the first sex scene, which was revolting. And I don't mean "it was even more revolting the second and third times I watched it," I mean I vowed never to watch another second. It's like the "Bad things happen in the suburbs" genre has now just devolved into "Dull things happen in the suburbs."
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No, yakimba, I wasn't expecting it to turn the corner. The first time I glimpsed it, I also vowed to never watch another second of it. But Mr. 1OTT kept pushing. I think he correctly sensed I would hate it and that this would be amusing. So, with that purpose in mind, I flipped away a couple times during the Giants game last night. Mrs. Yakimba is very astute. The couple scenes I saw last night reminded me of the worst, soul crushing arguments I've gotten into with women I've had relationships with. It's like someone said, "You know all those horrible arguments you've gotten into with your girlfriend/spouse, let's make a show consisting of nothing but that." Since no man would ever watch such a show, they threw in the sex to sucker them in. Sorry, it ain't working.
Now that the Mets have self-immolated, I intend to catch up with The War (I taped the first two episodes on Sat.).
You've got to ask yourself one question ... would Mel Torme watch that show?!
I didn't think so ...
Thanks man, now all's right with the world.
Let us know about "The War."
If by saying Mr. 1OTT kept pushing you mean he wasted six hours of his life at Shea last week, you are correct sir.
I watched "The War" all 7 episodes of it. Ken could have easily finished in 5.
Its repetitive (same shots and snips of dialog over and over again) boring at times and depressing all the way through.
Sure, war is hell - but so is sitting through 30 hours of tanks, Thompson guns and mutilated soldiers.
(sure, I'm a girl but c'mon already...we get it!)
I did find the "I was there" interviews quite compelling.
I've only seen the last episode all the way through. I have to admit, that southern lady was getting on my nerves.
I also agree that the never-ending shots of the tanks and machine guns firing gets a little tedious. That was what drove me away in the previous episode.
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