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Post by MGH on Dec 26, 2010 13:53:26 GMT -5
Bingo. The bizarre holiday episode is borderline, but I wouldn't call it bad as much as outside the box.
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Post by DiBiase is Good on Dec 26, 2010 13:55:17 GMT -5
Re: 30 Rock: Yeah, but how many Jenna episodes are there? Arrested Development: "Lovely Rita Wee-brain" wasn't that bad. I mean, it wasn't the best moments of the show, but it was bad. However, "Prison Break-Out" may have been the most useless episode of any show I have ever watched. Also, I protest the Office UK. That show was a serial, not a series. Miniseries and serials don't count, as they have a set number of episodes. A series, on the other hand, is an open ended project, coming up with new ideas over ten years is a little harder to do. The Office had a set number of episodes? It had 2 series and 2 Christmas Specials. Gervais and Merchant always planned to quit making whilst they were ahead but I doubt they knew exactly when they first created The Office that it would last exactly for 14 episodes. I doubt there are many shows of that nature created in the World where it is known exactly how long their shelf life will be. I don't understand your logic. What if a show gets cancelled before it gets to 10 years? Does that mean "My Name is Earl isn't a series? You mentioned Arrested Development but wasn't that cancelled after 3 seasons? Remember that the definition of "TV series" varies from country to country.
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Post by dlg3000 on Dec 26, 2010 14:29:53 GMT -5
Everybody Loves Raymond Everybody Hates Chris Golden Girls The Game My Name is Earl Third Rock from the Sun Glee The Good Wife Dancing with the Stars American Idol Beavis and Butthead The Waltons Little House on the Prairie Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Dec 26, 2010 14:35:11 GMT -5
I went on a Twilight Zone kick a little while ago. I'm pretty sure I've seen every episode and can't recall a single bad one. Sure some are a little silly or weaker than others, but I think all of them are generally good episodes. . I don't know, I personally find the fourth season, with the hour long episodes, to be kind of a chore to sit through. Serling must have agreed because they went back to the half hour format for the fifth and final season. I've only been watching Doctor Who starting with Ecclesen, but I've yet to see a bad episode from him on. I agree that the show worked better in a half hour timeslot. However, I wouldn't say there were any actual stinkers in the hour long episodes. In fact I really love the one were Dennis Hopper plays a neo nazi and the other one where William Shakespeare is brought back to life.
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fw91
Patti Mayonnaise
FAN Idol All-Star: FAN Idol Season X and *Gavel* 2x Judges' Throwdown winner
Tribe has spoken for 2024 Mets
Posts: 39,000
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Post by fw91 on Dec 26, 2010 14:44:46 GMT -5
The Man Show(Carolla and Kimmel), That's My Bush!
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Post by strykerdarksilence on Dec 26, 2010 15:29:28 GMT -5
Bingo. The bizarre holiday episode is borderline, but I wouldn't call it bad as much as outside the box. Ditto. The musical episode gets criticised, but I really like it.
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Jay Peas 42
El Dandy
Totally flips out ALL the time.
Is looking forward to a Nation of Domination Kwannza Special.
Posts: 8,329
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Post by Jay Peas 42 on Dec 26, 2010 16:07:58 GMT -5
Re: 30 Rock: Yeah, but how many Jenna episodes are there? Arrested Development: "Lovely Rita Wee-brain" wasn't that bad. I mean, it wasn't the best moments of the show, but it was bad. However, "Prison Break-Out" may have been the most useless episode of any show I have ever watched. Also, I protest the Office UK. That show was a serial, not a series. Miniseries and serials don't count, as they have a set number of episodes. A series, on the other hand, is an open ended project, coming up with new ideas over ten years is a little harder to do. The Office had a set number of episodes? It had 2 series and 2 Christmas Specials. Gervais and Merchant always planned to quit making whilst they were ahead but I doubt they knew exactly when they first created The Office that it would last exactly for 14 episodes. I doubt there are many shows of that nature created in the World where it is known exactly how long their shelf life will be. I don't understand your logic. What if a show gets cancelled before it gets to 10 years? Does that mean "My Name is Earl isn't a series? You mentioned Arrested Development but wasn't that cancelled after 3 seasons? Remember that the definition of "TV series" varies from country to country. Traditionally, a Television series is a program whose production that is open ended based on it's ability to make money, and the intent is that the program is to be regularly aired over the course of a season. A serial is a television program done on a short term basis, that is designed to tell a story in it's entirity. Typically, American TV favors the series, British TV favors the serial. The primary difference is if the show is closed ended, or open ended. Number of episodes has nothing to do with it, it's a story structure and production issue. Now, the difference between the two isn't as solid as it used to be, but there is a difference, and to claim that a show that only ran seven episodes never had a bad episode, is well, kind of contary to the purpose of this discussion. The purpose of this discussion is to identify television shows that have kept up a consistent level of quality over the course of a multiple year production runs, not to laud shows that had 15 episodes, and quit while they were ahead. By that logic, the answer is "Roots," as that show never had a bad episode, even though it was a miniseries.
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Post by DiBiase is Good on Dec 26, 2010 16:30:03 GMT -5
The Office had a set number of episodes? It had 2 series and 2 Christmas Specials. Gervais and Merchant always planned to quit making whilst they were ahead but I doubt they knew exactly when they first created The Office that it would last exactly for 14 episodes. I doubt there are many shows of that nature created in the World where it is known exactly how long their shelf life will be. I don't understand your logic. What if a show gets cancelled before it gets to 10 years? Does that mean "My Name is Earl isn't a series? You mentioned Arrested Development but wasn't that cancelled after 3 seasons? Remember that the definition of "TV series" varies from country to country. Traditionally, a Television series is a program whose production that is open ended based on it's ability to make money, and the intent is that the program is to be regularly aired over the course of a season. A serial is a television program done on a short term basis, that is designed to tell a story in it's entirity. Typically, American TV favors the series, British TV favors the serial. The primary difference is if the show is closed ended, or open ended. Number of episodes has nothing to do with it, it's a story structure and production issue. Now, the difference between the two isn't as solid as it used to be, but there is a difference, and to claim that a show that only ran seven episodes never had a bad episode, is well, kind of contary to the purpose of this discussion. The purpose of this discussion is to identify television shows that have kept up a consistent level of quality over the course of a multiple year production runs, not to laud shows that had 15 episodes, and quit while they were ahead. By that logic, the answer is "Roots," as that show never had a bad episode, even though it was a miniseries. # I wouldn't say Britain favours the serial over the series. A lot of comedy shows favour the 'less is more' theory. This is mainly because the show that set the standard for Comedy Series here only lasted for 12 episodes (Fawlty Towers). I don't think you quite grasp how TV here works. As the main channel here is paid for by the public, they don't normally sign away on 24 episodes of a show that could potentially be watched by a very small audience. if they were to do this, there would be huge public outcry about how the channel could justify forking out for such a large amount of episodes when there was no indication of its popularity. Most shows that get greenlit are given 6 episodes. If these six are a success then the show will likely be commissioned for another series. You say traditionally, that may be the case in the US but there are different traditions for TV shows here. Just because we as a country are more suited to fewer episodes, doesn't mean that they are not series. You mention that this discussion is supposed to "identify television shows that have kept up a consistent level of quality over the course of a multiple year production runs". It doesn't state that in the opening post. The thread starter even included a show that ran for only 6 episodes. You mention 'Roots', But that show was always going to have a finite number of episodes and I would class that as a serial. But most normal series here are not written with a finite number of episodes in mind.
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Post by Gerard Gerard on Dec 26, 2010 16:53:12 GMT -5
Series/Season. They're the same things by different names. It's just the industries that differ, look at HBO, they conform to what's know as a "season" by the description above, but are written with their entire stories, more or less, etched out in advance.
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nate5054
Hank Scorpio
Lucky to be alive in the Chris Jericho Era
Posts: 7,013
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Post by nate5054 on Dec 26, 2010 19:42:29 GMT -5
I'd agree up to the Bubba Duck/Gizmoduck seasons. They were awful.
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Post by G✇JI☈A on Dec 26, 2010 19:48:46 GMT -5
Father Ted I'm Alan Partridge It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia I'm only up to about 5 eps into the 2nd season but all of those episodes of Community have been great. Police Squad Deadwood Sherlock (3 episodes ;D )
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Post by FUNK_US/BRODUS on Dec 26, 2010 20:57:48 GMT -5
Whichever version of The Office you are talking about, im calling the Pilot episode. The jokes are just lame in both of them. The UK version never had a pilot episode. At least not one that was ever released. Unless you're referring to the first episode, which I'd disagree with. There are some great gags in that episode : The stapler in the jelly, Brent accusing Dawn of theft, The interview with the new Warehouse employee, Brent's meeting with Jennifer. The stapler thing is fine, but the "Custardy" wordplay after is just awful (and even worse in an American format due to the contrasting humor) and the theft accusation isnt even funny, its just a total dick move. To be fair, Im not a huge fan of the UK Office. Take Tim out of it and it should never have been on TV, every time he wasnt on screen it was hardly worth watching. Martin Freeman OWNED that show. I also hate how other British people tell me it is this display of intelligent, subtle highbrow humor, when a lot of jokes use the profanity crutch, and half of Tims insults aimed at Gareth are just gay jokes. At least the US one was creative with Jims pranks, and the sheer lengths that he would go to. (The red wire prank being a good show of this) The 2nd and 3rd seasons of the US Office are the best episodes of either version.
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Post by FUNK_US/BRODUS on Dec 26, 2010 21:00:23 GMT -5
Ive never seen a Friends episode that I thought was bad tbh. It went downhill after Chandler and Monica were outed as a couple (the way it transformed into WE ALL HAVE GREAT JOBS! WE'RE ALL RICH AND HAPPY irked me compared to the first 4 seasons where they just seem like genuine everyday people)
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Post by Son of a Pregnant Dog on Dec 26, 2010 21:01:29 GMT -5
Beavis and Butthead's quality was pretty consistent.
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Post by neal on Dec 26, 2010 21:19:31 GMT -5
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Post by Pervy Stone Cold on Dec 26, 2010 21:25:57 GMT -5
Ive never seen a Friends episode that I thought was bad tbh. It went downhill after Chandler and Monica were outed as a couple (the way it transformed into WE ALL HAVE GREAT JOBS! WE'RE ALL RICH AND HAPPY irked me compared to the first 4 seasons where they just seem like genuine everyday people) The same opinion holds true for one of my friends, who happens to be Vietnamese, and owns a DVD for every season.
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Post by Enrico Palazzo on Dec 26, 2010 21:56:01 GMT -5
I'm Alan Partridge, there were only 12 episodes but each was excellant. Also, I can't really think of a bad episode of Top Gear. Earlier Top Gear episodes were poor in comparison to how much better it became. When the three of them were more civil and didn't argue as much. The one with Jordan in it was specifically bad. I'd second Father Ted.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2010 22:14:47 GMT -5
I'll second Have Gun, Will Travel and also throw Perry Mason out there.
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Ginger Beer Man
Dennis Stamp
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Post by Ginger Beer Man on Dec 26, 2010 22:51:20 GMT -5
The IT Crowd Black Books
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Big L
Grimlock
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Post by Big L on Dec 26, 2010 23:03:36 GMT -5
Family Matters
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