[martok2112]

Originally Posted by horatio

So yeah, I don't join the "people are getting dumber" chorus. The only dumb people are the ones who do not see the ample opportunities to sell their stuff.

I hope folks will remember that, should the next Trek film go gangbusters like the first one did.

[samwiseb]

I don't usually like joining that chorus either. I think it's 'probably' true that we're getting dumber, but even with a hundred page essay you'd still have to choose one out of perhaps dozens of possible theses as to why.

Game of Thrones is definitely on my "plan to see" list.

[kevin]

I'm a little ambivalent (or maybe just really conflicted) on the argument over TV audiences but I think it depends on what you make your TV and movie diet up of.

It's sorta like food. Some folks just eat junk food all the time. Some just now and again. Same with TV. I can't pretend not to always like dumbass TV and movies (hello, I like the Transformers films for F's sake! I'm really in no position to talk to anyone) but you have to mix it up with good stuff as well. I like to think I can discern when I'm watching something 'bad' and something 'good' and that I'm conscious of the differences therein even if I'm enjoying them both for different reasons. But I think it's a struggle to avoid the sheer amount of reality TV produced now because it IS so much cheaper and therefore profitable to make.

On the matter of Game of Thrones though, I have it on my list to catch up on. But I just started Terra Nova so even though the first episode of it wasn't up to much I'm clearing that off the list first (as unenthusiastic as I already am and it's barely on episode 2 just now). Though going back to the idea of resourcing cable TV shows I believe GoT has done location filming in places like Iceland so since that usually costs good money I have to imagine it's a well funded show. So, maybe a Star Trek TV series set at around 10 or so eps a season could work out.

[martok2112]

Oh, believe me, I enjoy a lot of dumb movies too....having quite a few guilty pleasures in the dumb movie realm...

....but at least those movies took some semblance of writing to accomplish telling a story, as opposed to just taking a bunch of unemployed, 20-something nobodies that somehow still manage to look like whatever today's ideal 20-something might be, putting them in an apartment/flat/townhouse/what have you, paying them a stupid amount of money that might actually shelter a few homeless families, and having them run amuck...and the producers, if they're not satisfied with the level of ...ahem...."drama" in the show, will start rumors between the "participants" to stir the pot, add fuel to the fire, and get s*** started between them so that the trailer trash that watch this stuff get their jollies, and the nobodies get their fat paychecks.

One of my friends, who is a lead singer in a tribute band up in New York, said that she thought Hurricane Sandy was nature's revenge for "Jersey Shore".

[kevin]

She may have a point..........

[martok2112]

indeed.

[horatio]

I think the interesting aspect about reality TV is that everybody realizes and fully acknowledges that it is trash yet this doesn't hurt but rather enhances the popularity of the stuff. It is basically a weird form of irony.

I also think that this kind of trash should be differentiated from "good trash". One example that comes to mind is They Live. It is on the one hand an intelligent political movie but on the other hand it is pure 80s trash ... yet it works precisely because of this combination.

[martok2112]

Originally Posted by horatio

I think the interesting aspect about reality TV is that everybody realizes and fully acknowledges that it is trash yet this doesn't hurt but rather enhances the popularity of the stuff. It is basically a weird form of irony.

I also think that this kind of trash should be differentiated from "good trash". One example that comes to mind is They Live. It is on the one hand an intelligent political movie but on the other hand it is pure 80s trash ... yet it works precisely because of this combination.

Ha ha....interesting points.

Hey....wait.....I liked the 80's.

[omegaman]

I hate reality TV shows… they're inane.

[martok2112]

Originally Posted by omegaman

I hate reality TV shows… they're inane.

Insert an "s" in that last word, and you get twice the mileage out of it.