Will television surpass film?

2235 Views 21 Replies 8 Participants Last post by deacongreg, Feb 24, 2009

nova

Discussion Starter · Feb 12, 2009

I suppose the title says it all,....

As most of you know, (or maybe it's just me) but very few Hollywood films as of late (or the last 20 years) have been worth looking at. On the other hand there are a number of excellent TV productions. Whether you like 'em or not:

All in the Family
Band of Brothers
Battlestar Galactica
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Deadwood
Firefly
Gunsmoke
Hill Street Blues
The Honeymooners
Mad Men
Lost
The Office
The Shield
Smallville
The Sopranos
SpongeBob SquarePants
Twin Peaks
24
X-Files
The West Wing
to name a few,...

Curious,...when will Hollywood get a clue? Perhaps it's just me,... but I prefer a little character and plot development much more than an all out slam-bam action film. Whatever happened to:

Alien
Amadeus
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Godfather
High Noon
In the Heat of the Night
Lawrence of Arabia
M*A*S*H
The Quiet Man
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Red Rock West
Serenity
The Shootist
Twelve O'Clock High
Young Frankenstein

Just a smattering of good films,..... but
Am I alone? Does the vast majority just want another: Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, et al; mindnumbing action film???: :hissyfit:
Or will the quality of television finally surpase film making?

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tonyvdb

· #4 · Feb 12, 2009

The problem with Movies these days is that alot of them are either terrible or rated R with way to much gore and sex. Back in the 80's a person could go to a decent movie at least twice a month now there are entire months that go by before a good quality movie hits the screen. Look at last year, DVD releases were awful I went almost two and a half months without seeing a new release because there was nothing worth seeing.

But that also is true for television, there were far better TV shows available to us back in the 80's than there are now. I can think of only a handful that I will watch now. Law and order, Lost, Flashpoint and a bunch of shows on Discovery, TLC and HGTV.

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tonyvdb

· #6 · Feb 12, 2009

atledreier said:
How do you know they are not worth watching, I wonder? Maybe you are not giving the new releases a chance?

I'm not the only one that thought that, there was a thread going here about that topic. I look at reviews before I go and rent.

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tonyvdb

· #9 · Feb 12, 2009

lcaillo said:
I am having some trouble following your point. It seems that you throw out anything rated R, but were not some of the films you listed rated R? And the list of good TV you made is pretty long compared to what was available a couple of decades ago.

Perhaps you could clarify your view if you described more about what you think makes a good film and give some recent examples.

It seems to me that there have been lots of examples of fine films and television in recent years, among much more garbage, but I do not see the overall availbility of quality decrease at all in either. There is much more to choose from of all types.

I dont throw out everything rated R but the rating system in our country's has changed so much that a movie rated R in the 80's would be a PG13 now. There are some great movies out even today. I loved the Price Caspian movie Madagascar2 , as well as the latest Batman among others but the days of good fun movies like Back to the future or Star wars seem to be fading. Now it seems to be more about making a quick buck no matter how dumb or awful the plot.

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