Party of One: Unpopular TV Opinions

[Haleth]

To be fair, they are dealing with the end of the world and voracious zombies. Not to mention losing nearly everyone they know.  That would change a person.  

[slf]

8 hours ago, auntlada said:

I don't watch it either and don't plan to (the ick factor), but I am curious, too. Can you guys give us some sample dialogue?

Here are a few examples of how bad it can be (and this is nowhere near to being the worst):

[Abraham makes a comment about Eugene's new hairstyle]

Sgt. Abraham Ford: I see you've tied back your Tennessee waterfall there.

Dr. Eugene Porter: I won't lie. I liked it. I may very well miss it. The feeling of the billowy curtain catching the breeze some days was straight-up bliss. But brass tacks - The hair doesn't make the man, the man makes the man.

Sgt. Abraham Ford: Guard duty, weapon training, changing up the hairstyle, swigging some swagger with the ladies, spitting game...

Dr. Eugene Porter: If you don't spit game you are game.

 

Sgt. Abraham Ford: You about ready to spill the pintos on what the hell it is we're doing here? Eugene.

Dr. Eugene Porter: [Eugene looks to Abraham] We're gonna manufacture bullets here. I've been chewing the cud on this for a few days now. The Hilltop's dry, our supply's finite. So not only are bullets vital for defense, but per the law of supply and demand, a full cartridge is now the coin of the land.

Sgt. Abraham Ford: Making bullets from scratch.

Dr. Eugene Porter: Spent casings, but the innards are all us. And by us, I mean me.

Sgt. Abraham Ford: And you think you can do that... here? With just this?

Dr. Eugene Porter: Well, the digs well require a thorough scrubbing. We'll have to scare up a hella ton of lead, but, yes. I most definitely almost certainly think I can do that here.

 

Negan: [to Rick] Hi. You're Rick, right? I'm Negan. And I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not cool! You have no idea how not cool that shit is, but I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly. Yeah. You are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes. [smiles] Yes you are. You see, Rick, whatever you do, no matter what, you don't mess with the New World Order, and the New World Order is this, and it's really very simple so even if you're stupid which you very may well be, you can understand it.

 

[Trying to convince the leader of a safe haven to let them stay after Rick pulled a gun on her people, saying they don't have the whole story about Rick]

Maggie: He was frustrated. ........The things he's seen. ..........The things he's lost. (That's it, that's Maggie's whole argument.)

Combine that type of sparseness with the "southern-style" slang from Eugene and Abraham's dialogue then imagine it being said very slowly in a very, very bad southern accent and you'll have some idea of what I'm talking about.

Edited January 25, 2018 by slf

[Joe]

Wow. Yeah, I see what you mean. It's almost gibberish.

[Annber03]

Wow, this Eugene guy can't just answer a question directly, can he? 

I've heard people talk about all the monologuing and whatnot that seems to happen on that show. It does sound like it'd get tiring pretty quick.

[auntlada]

@slf, they're supposed to be from the South? They don't have any actual southerners on the writing staff, do they? It sounds like the stereotypical Hollywood idea of southern, which is basically just stupid -- except they throw in a few big words so that the characters will sound smart but folksy.

If they want to know what smart but folksy sounds like, they should study Col. Potter.

[Katy M]

OK, I think I'm going to have to start watching The Walking Dead now...as a comedy.

[slf]

18 minutes ago, auntlada said:

@slf, they're supposed to be from the South? They don't have any actual southerners on the writing staff, do they? It sounds like the stereotypical Hollywood idea of southern, which is basically just stupid -- except they throw in a few big words so that the characters will sound smart but folksy.

If they want to know what smart but folksy sounds like, they should study Col. Potter.

Yep. Most of the characters on the show are from Georgia but Eugene and Abraham are from Texas. I'm not sure if any of the writers are from the South but the dialogue has never given me the impression they are.

 

48 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

Wow, this Eugene guy can't just answer a question directly, can he? 

I've heard people talk about all the monologuing and whatnot that seems to happen on that show. It does sound like it'd get tiring pretty quick.

I am not exaggerating: any time Eugene is allowed to say more than three words that's the kind of crap that comes out of his mouth. (Or did. I couldn't take it anymore and stopped watching the show two years ago.)

Yeah, the monologuing is especially bad and there's not a single season where they don't do it. The quote from Negan I posted is actually only about a third of his speech from that episode. That guy talks.

Edited January 25, 2018 by slf

[ganesh]

1 hour ago, slf said:

(That's it, that's Maggie's whole argument.)

So true. 

[festivus]

4 hours ago, slf said:

Maggie: He was frustrated. ........The things he's seen. ..........The things he's lost. (That's it, that's Maggie's whole argument.)

This is the kind of thing that bothers me, even more than Eugene's cornball crap. Characters only talk like that for plot purposes so some more dumb shit can go down because these people don't communicate with each other. After 8 years, that shit is beyond old. 

[callie lee 29]

What the actual fuck....??? I am legit offended on behalf of my ancestors. I can tell you a vast majority of my people have been born less that 100 miles (much, much less) of the delta. I also got some kin from WV (a very different kind of southérn) and they would look at that as "what the fuck are you trying to say". 

[Haleth]

Aww, I love the way Eugene speaks.  He provides some well needed laughter in a very grim show.

[ganesh]

To be fair, Eugene is really the only person that talks like Eugene, and I always thought Abraham was just needling him given their history. 

The show is notorious for nondialogue like Maggie much more because for some reason TV thinks it's dramatic to not have people talk about important things. 

[vibeology]

I do think part of that is a holdover from its comic book origins too. Dialogue there can be sparse because there's only so much room on a page and the visuals are such a big part of the storytelling. That doesn't excuse the awful writing when someone goes on a monologue, like Negan's pee-pee time one that got me to quit the show (along with the larger writing issues like pacing and caring more about cliffhangers and trending on twitter than telling a satisfying story.) The writing is horrible in so many ways.

[ganesh]

Actually, I'm on hiatus until I know Negan is gone and then I'll watch the show in series, like once a night. 

While the dialogue can be a function of the comic books, it's also a tv thing. Lost was scandalous for this. Back in its heyday, the X Files was too. It's a function of the writers not really having a big picture, so you say little and hope the viewers fill it in. It's also a cheap way to manufacture drama by having characters not ask obvious questions that any normal person would. Like: You've been gone for 6 hours, where did you go? 

[ChromaKelly]

Doesn't Rick say at least once per episode "You don't know what it's like out there!"
Maggie's Southern accent is the worst. Maybe that's why they don't give her a whole lot of dialogue.

ETA - I still can't forgive TWD for making the line "Lucille is thirsty!" exist.

Edited January 25, 2018 by ChromaKelly

[ganesh]

Accents never really bother me. I find it more problematic that in a land like Game of Thrones everyone talks the same, where irl, a tiny country like England, there's a multitude of dialects. 

[Katy M]

2 minutes ago, ganesh said:

Accents never really bother me. I find it more problematic that in a land like Game of Thrones everyone talks the same, where irl, a tiny country like England, there's a multitude of dialects. 

Or, more oddly, how everyone in Star Trek speaks English.

[vibeology]

1 minute ago, Katy M said:

Or, more oddly, how everyone in Star Trek speaks English.

That's because of a Universal Translator. Everyone, including the humans, is speaking their own language and we're just hearing it in English.

[ganesh]

When you're doing scifi tv, you need a cheat to get around the language barrier, so some universal translator is fair. That's what made the Stargate movie so great; they tackled language as a major plot element. I was disappointed that the tv show didn't even try to address some workaround. 

Farscape did it the best because you heard the characters talking their native language, but they then introduced the microbes right off the bat. 

Babylon 5 did a good job too. Everyone spoke english because the space station was human, but not only were the accents different from alien race to alien race, but different as well within the alien races. 

I was saying more like how everyone talks 'english' english in fantasy shows. It doesn't make sense that the Starks from the north talk the same as the Lannisters from the south, just given evidence in real life. It's not enough to take me out of the show, and I can roll with it. I don't think it's in the same class as aliens speaking english though. 

[ABay]

It's just a bad idea to have everyone speak the same language or be able to understand each other in some way. As Doug Adams so wisely said: "the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation."

[topanga]

4 hours ago, ganesh said:

Accents never really bother me. I find it more problematic that in a land like Game of Thrones everyone talks the same, where irl, a tiny country like England, there's a multitude of dialects. 

People in period pieces all speak with British accents. Even American actors change their voices

[Haleth]

20 hours ago, ganesh said:

It doesn't make sense that the Starks from the north talk the same as the Lannisters from the south, just given evidence in real life.

Robb Stark had a completely different accent from everyone else in his family.

[Llywela]

20 hours ago, ganesh said:

I was saying more like how everyone talks 'english' english in fantasy shows. It doesn't make sense that the Starks from the north talk the same as the Lannisters from the south, just given evidence in real life. It's not enough to take me out of the show, and I can roll with it. I don't think it's in the same class as aliens speaking english though. 

In fairness, Ned Stark and his sons have markedly different accents from the families down south (although his wife and daughters don't, but I can well believe that Westeros has its own version of the RP accent to which noblewomen are expected to aspire), while the characters from Dorne also have very distinct accents - and lower class characters like Gendry and Davos speak differently again. So there is some attempt to delineate characters from different regions by means of accent.

[ganesh]

Dorne was definitely different but I thought that was because of the actor coming up with an accent than being directed. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

19 hours ago, topanga said:

People in period pieces all speak with British accents. Even American actors change their voices

Except for Kirsten Dunst, who played Marie Antoinette, and used her own American accent, along with the egregious 20th century phrases like "You're kidding me!" I think the guy who played her husband also used his regular American Accent. It was a horrid, horrid movie.

[Blergh]

OK, I can kinda go for folks in other times, countries and even planets speaking English to each other to give the audience the means to understand the dialogue. One of the more appealing aspects of the the "To Be or Not To Be" Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft movie was having them initially sing then argue in their characters' native Polish THEN having the announcement made that for the sanity of the audience the rest of the movie would NOT be in Polish [but in English].

 However; it supremely annoys me when folks who are in non-English speaking places without Universal Translators speak to/get spoken to in English with other characters who are hithero strangers that one would have no reason to presume would not understand the dominant language (e.g. so many times in "The Highlander" series). I mean, how tough can it be to put out a 'parlez vous anglais' ' habla ingles' query before immediately launching into English?

[orza]

Performing a role while using a convincing accent is a learned skill not all actors have mastered. Some actors are very good at it, some can't do it at all and most actors are somewhere in between. Peter Dinklage is a good actor but his fake accent in GoT isn't fooling anyone. He sounds exactly like an American trying to fake a British accent. I prefer it when shows just have actors speak however is least distracting. Actors who slip in and out of accent are more distracting then those who are consistent however they may be speaking. It doesn't bother me when family members on a show speak with different regional accents if each accent sounds authentic and not fake.

I also don't have a problem with aliens in SciFi productions all speaking English. There is significant cost associated with inventing one or more artificial languages, coaching actors to "speak" in those languages and then adding subtitles in post production that isn't justified for most shows. I would rather see that money put toward higher quality CGI. Many viewers don't like subtitles and won't watch shows that rely on them extensively for "realism". TV is a business and it's bad for business to insist on doing something that drives viewers away.

[Llywela]

5 hours ago, ganesh said:

Dorne was definitely different but I thought that was because of the actor coming up with an accent than being directed. 

Over the seasons we have met more than one character from Dorne, and all used a similar accent that was notably different than the characters from other regions, which seems deliberate to me. How good any of the actors are at faking accents is a different matter. The attempt was made to differentiate them.

I agree with @orza about Peter Dinklage's accent - it's a good attempt, but not good enough.

[andromeda331]

4 hours ago, Blergh said:

OK, I can kinda go for folks in other times, countries and even planets speaking English to each other to give the audience the means to understand the dialogue. One of the more appealing aspects of the the "To Be or Not To Be" Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft movie was having them initially sing then argue in their characters' native Polish THEN having the announcement made that for the sanity of the audience the rest of the movie would NOT be in Polish [but in English].

I love that movie. 

[festivus]

5 hours ago, orza said:

I also don't have a problem with aliens in SciFi productions all speaking English

I don't either. I liked the Farscape approach to it with the microbes and now I just assume that's the way all SciFi shows are if they don't state how everyone can understand each other. It's just easier this way. :)

[Raja]

On 1/25/2018 at 9:11 AM, ABay said:

It's just a bad idea to have everyone speak the same language or be able to understand each other in some way. As Doug Adams so wisely said: "the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation."

Star Trek The Next Generation famously had the one episode (Darmok) where the universal communicator could not work because the alien language  depended upon having the cultural knowledge of a story being told. But the alien understood that and was pushing to get us to understand.

[shireenbamfatheon]

I side-eye anyone who praises Game of Thrones for its "strong female characters".

I think Veronica and Weevil would have made a better couple on Veronica Mars than V and Logan.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 1/24/2018 at 7:59 PM, auntlada said:

they're supposed to be from the South? They don't have any actual southerners on the writing staff, do they? It sounds like the stereotypical Hollywood idea of southern, which is basically just stupid -- except they throw in a few big words so that the characters will sound smart but folksy.

If they want to know what smart but folksy sounds like, they should study Col. Potter.

Yes, or Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder.  I hate The Walking Dead.   I never liked the comic book either.  

Edited January 27, 2018 by ratgirlagogo

[MargeGunderson]

On 1/24/2018 at 5:45 PM, Haleth said:

To be fair, they are dealing with the end of the world and voracious zombies. Not to mention losing nearly everyone they know.  That would change a person.  

You would think that their circumstances would inspire them to be a little more concise in their speech.

[theredhead77]

1 hour ago, MargeGunderson said:

You would think that their circumstances would inspire them to be a little more concise in their speech.

There's no time!

[topanga]

9 hours ago, shireenbamfatheon said:

I think Veronica and Weevil would have made a better couple on Veronica Mars than V and Logan.

I re-watched Season 1 recently for the Previously.TV Veronica Mars podcast, and yes, the two of them always had mad chemistry. But it always felt platonic to me. I suspect there was some amount of physical attraction there, but they respected each other too much to hook up, if that makes any sense. 

[shireenbamfatheon]

12 hours ago, topanga said:

I re-watched Season 1 recently for the Previously.TV Veronica Mars podcast, and yes, the two of them always had mad chemistry. But it always felt platonic to me. I suspect there was some amount of physical attraction there, but they respected each other too much to hook up, if that makes any sense. 

It definitely makes sense and I usually dig platonic relationships because romance is rarely done well in tv shows (imo), but considering who Veronica ended up with, I can't help but think of what could have been. 

[slf]

On 1/28/2018 at 11:00 AM, shireenbamfatheon said:

It definitely makes sense and I usually dig platonic relationships because romance is rarely done well in tv shows (imo), but considering who Veronica ended up with, I can't help but think of what could have been. 

Wasn't that originally on the table? I could've sworn I read that Weevil and Veronica were supposed to have a thing but the producer (or whoever) changed it to Logan.

[TattleTeeny]

On 1/27/2018 at 6:33 PM, MargeGunderson said:

You would think that their circumstances would inspire them to be a little more concise in their speech.

There is a rival gang on TWD that is concise in their speech and they are so annoying!

[proserpina65]

On ‎01‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 11:26 AM, ganesh said:

Accents never really bother me. I find it more problematic that in a land like Game of Thrones everyone talks the same, where irl, a tiny country like England, there's a multitude of dialects. 

It was more noticeable in the first couple of seasons, but the northern characters on GOT had northern accents, including Sean Bean's Yorkshire accent.  In fact, some are the subsidiary characters were clearly played by Scotsmen (both Jory and Rodrik Cassel in particular, but others amongst the Northern lords as well).  And the Dornish characters have different accents as well. 

On ‎01‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 8:10 AM, Haleth said:

Robb Stark had a completely different accent from everyone else in his family.

That's because he's from Glasgow.  Must've found him on the doorstep one morning.

[bmasters9]

That the only really good series from the Miller-Boyett production family (Miller-Milkis inclusive) was on a network that they didn't usually make shows for, and of a type that they didn't usually make: the 1974-76 NBC legal series Petrocelli w/Barry Newman, Susan Howard and Albert Salmi. 

[Pippin]

Can I just get this off my proverbial chest?  WTF is up with the alleged "comedy" on network TV?  Is there any show where actual wit is utilized?

It seems to me that television comedy today follows the same formula:  a cast of characters revolves around one or two central characters who are utter and complete assholes.  Their bad behaviour, both in terms of actions and words, is supposed to be hilarious and we're supposed to accept behaviour that in the real world, would land you in jail and/or have the turkey kicked out of you. 

They never suffer consequences for their bad behaviour, never have anyone tell them to STFU and continue with their obnoxiousness ad infinitum, ad nauseaum.

I'll admit to having an odd sense of humour (Monty Python and the Holy Grail made me laugh until I cried) but surely I'm not so out of it that I have no sense of humour whatsoever.  But none of the sitcoms I see don't make me laugh at all; hell, I don't even crack a smile.

No, it's not me.  It's them. 

[topanga]

7 hours ago, Pippin said:

Can I just get this off my proverbial chest?  WTF is up with the alleged "comedy" on network TV?  Is there any show where actual wit is utilized?

It seems to me that television comedy today follows the same formula:  a cast of characters revolves around one or two central characters who are utter and complete assholes.  Their bad behaviour, both in terms of actions and words, is supposed to be hilarious and we're supposed to accept behaviour that in the real world, would land you in jail and/or have the turkey kicked out of you. 

They never suffer consequences for their bad behaviour, never have anyone tell them to STFU and continue with their obnoxiousness ad infinitum, ad nauseaum.

I'll admit to having an odd sense of humour (Monty Python and the Holy Grail made me laugh until I cried) but surely I'm not so out of it that I have no sense of humour whatsoever.  But none of the sitcoms I see don't make me laugh at all; hell, I don't even crack a smile.

No, it's not me.  It's them. 

I hear ya. That’s the current sit-com formula, unfortunately. There are a few shows that break this mold (e.g., Modern Family in its prime).

[proserpina65]

I never found Modern Family the least bit funny.  And I hate that it makes Sofia Vergara into a stereotype.

[selkie]

Do a free trial of the Acorn streaming service to watch the full run of 'The Detectorists'. It's a really awesome sit-com without that kind of nastiness. 

[janie jones]

17 hours ago, Pippin said:

Can I just get this off my proverbial chest?  WTF is up with the alleged "comedy" on network TV?  Is there any show where actual wit is utilized?

It seems to me that television comedy today follows the same formula:  a cast of characters revolves around one or two central characters who are utter and complete assholes.  Their bad behaviour, both in terms of actions and words, is supposed to be hilarious and we're supposed to accept behaviour that in the real world, would land you in jail and/or have the turkey kicked out of you. 

They never suffer consequences for their bad behaviour, never have anyone tell them to STFU and continue with their obnoxiousness ad infinitum, ad nauseaum.

I'll admit to having an odd sense of humour (Monty Python and the Holy Grail made me laugh until I cried) but surely I'm not so out of it that I have no sense of humour whatsoever.  But none of the sitcoms I see don't make me laugh at all; hell, I don't even crack a smile.

No, it's not me.  It's them. 

This is why I have no interest in the new show with Patton Oswalt and that guy from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  Why do I want to watch a show about some douchebag?  The concept of a shitty teacher who doesn't want to do their job isn't a funny one, to me.  Not to mention that I wonder how the guy even is qualified to teach.  Does the former philosophy professor have a master's in education and a K-12 certification in that state?  And if so, why did he get it if he's so above teaching high school?  I'm not interested in knowing the answer.

[bilgistic]

It's terrible. You made the right choice.

[Dee]

Unpopular Opinion: Bughead is TRASH. As both individuals, and, as a couple. Always have been & always will be.

[Chas411]

6 hours ago, Dee said:

Unpopular Opinion: Bughead is TRASH. As both individuals, and, as a couple. Always have been & always will be.

Word.

Everyone's obsession and all around delusion when it comes to both characters, the couple, the actors and their apparent stand out acting ability has taken the fun out of visiting any forums to snark.

[cpcathy]

On ‎2‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 10:07 AM, proserpina65 said:

I never found Modern Family the least bit funny.  And I hate that it makes Sofia Vergara into a stereotype.

I laughed at about five years of the show, then, no more. It's wearing out its welcome. The kids are like, what, 40 now? Please end the show.