Comments on: Big Gulp TV http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/heldenfiles/2006/06/30/big-gulp-tv/ Movies, TV and Popular Culture with Rich Heldenfels Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:09:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Rich Heldenfels http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/heldenfiles/2006/06/30/big-gulp-tv/#comment-382 Rich Heldenfels Sat, 01 Jul 2006 20:05:41 +0000 http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/heldenfiles/?p=589#comment-382 When I think of the best TV dramas of all time, I tend to lean toward shows with serialized elements, starting with ''Homicide,'' which was unbelievably textured and constantly referring back to past events. But there have also been serialized dramas that either weren't very good or were good only in a popcorn-TV kind of way. (The soaps of the '80s come to mind, as does ''The X-Files.'') But self-contained dramas have also worked; the original, '50s ''Dragnet'' was a show with real greatness, and is one that has endured in the public imagination for more than half a century. The all-time great comedies -- ''Lucy'' and ''Andy Griffith'' leap immediately to the fore -- also achieved classic status for the most part with self-contained storytelling. When I think of the best TV dramas of all time, I tend to lean toward shows with serialized elements, starting with "Homicide," which was unbelievably textured and constantly referring back to past events. But there have also been serialized dramas that either weren't very good or were good only in a popcorn-TV kind of way. (The soaps of the '80s come to mind, as does "The X-Files.") But self-contained dramas have also worked; the original, '50s "Dragnet" was a show with real greatness, and is one that has endured in the public imagination for more than half a century. The all-time great comedies — "Lucy" and "Andy Griffith" leap immediately to the fore — also achieved classic status for the most part with self-contained storytelling.

]]> By: Robb Hyde http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/heldenfiles/2006/06/30/big-gulp-tv/#comment-381 Robb Hyde Sat, 01 Jul 2006 01:38:54 +0000 http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/heldenfiles/?p=589#comment-381 The quick answer is: both. Ha! Can't have it both way you say? Well, now the long answer . . . I couldn't agree more with you about the impact of watching week-to-week. The enjoyment I get out of our Sunday night appointment TV is tremendous. Now that I'm pushing 50 and way out of a demographic anyone is interested in (except AARP), it's the only night of appointment TV I have: Sopranos, now Deadwood, in September The Wire (ooooh, The Wire). I defintely enjoy watching an episode and mulling it over the next day in my head and talking about with a family member or friend. What has happened now with the advent of on-demnd on digital cable is that I ALSO look forward to the chance to view these shows in large clumps for the second viewing. Shows with as much depth as these deserve---and reward---a second (and sometimes third) viewing. You can take in the full effect of story arcs and know when it's a good time to take a break after multiple episodes. In a somewhat related matter, for the last two years HBO On-demand has slotted the enitre ten episodes of Band of Brothers for Memorial Day weekend. I've enjoyed taking them in each year. It's almost a tradition, and hope it will continue again next Memorial Day weekend. I occasionally ponder the thought that these serialized dramas may be the video that lasts through decades, and even centuries, rewarding future viewers with depth of character and ambiguous situations and resolutions that so often escape contemporary movies. After all, how many of the great Dickens novels began in serialized form? The quick answer is: both.

Ha! Can't have it both way you say? Well, now the long answer . . .

I couldn't agree more with you about the impact of watching week-to-week. The enjoyment I get out of our Sunday night appointment TV is tremendous. Now that I'm pushing 50 and way out of a demographic anyone is interested in (except AARP), it's the only night of appointment TV I have: Sopranos, now Deadwood, in September The Wire (ooooh, The Wire). I defintely enjoy watching an episode and mulling it over the next day in my head and talking about with a family member or friend.

What has happened now with the advent of on-demnd on digital cable is that I ALSO look forward to the chance to view these shows in large clumps for the second viewing. Shows with as much depth as these deserve—and reward—a second (and sometimes third) viewing. You can take in the full effect of story arcs and know when it's a good time to take a break after multiple episodes.

In a somewhat related matter, for the last two years HBO On-demand has slotted the enitre ten episodes of Band of Brothers for Memorial Day weekend. I've enjoyed taking them in each year. It's almost a tradition, and hope it will continue again next Memorial Day weekend.

I occasionally ponder the thought that these serialized dramas may be the video that lasts through decades, and even centuries, rewarding future viewers with depth of character and ambiguous situations and resolutions that so often escape contemporary movies. After all, how many of the great Dickens novels began in serialized form?

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