Someone at Empire magazine is smoking crack

[viktor_haag]

According to AICN, here's the shows that Britain's Empire magazine are better than The Wire on their alltime best TV list:
- Friends
- 24
- Lost
- The West Wing
- The Sopranos
- Buffy
- The Simpsons

Oh, please. These sorts of lists always reveal more about how the source feels about their target demographic than it reveals about anything closely approximating an impartial judgement of quality.

MASH? not listed.

Mary Tyler Moore show? not listed.

I Love Lucy? not listed.

Dick vanDyke show? not listed.

The Honeymooners? not listed.

Jack Benny? not listed.

Gunsmoke? not listed.

Any television show at all made before 1980? not listed.

Bah. These sorts of lists only serve to add that frisson of enragement to my day. I must learn not to glance at them.

Comments

[thebitterguy]

In that vein, I'd like to thank you for showing me your Rochester/Marshal Dillon fanfic. I found it very engaging.

[doc-lemming.livejournal.com]

Rochester scampered up to the Marshal. "It's okay if your deputy is hurt, boss. I can help out. Just lie right here, okay?"

The Marshal looked at the dusky-skinned servant. "Well...since Miss Kitty's out of town and I do need the help..."

"Oh, I'll help, boss, I'll help." His dark head began to move lower--

From the edge of town came the anguished cry of, "Rochester!" But no one paid attention to the man.

--Excerpt from Sharpshooter: Adventures of a Fake Buffalo Soldier

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Auuughhh! You need to stop that right now!

(Make fun if you want, but there's no denying that Gunsmoke had about as much to contribute to US pop culture, during its time, as any TV show ever has. That doesn't mean I'm a huge fan. And it certainly doesn't mean that I'd be interested in writing, or reading, sketchy Gunsmoke [fan|slash]fic. 8))

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

And come to think of it, you'd probably better put "Coronation Street" on the list, under the same general proviso.

[doc-lemming.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'll stop, because (a) it's not my kink and (b) I have no other ideas.

I think Gunsmoke reinforced American culture but I'm not sure it contributed much that was new. It solidified the Western on radio and on television. (Though the switch from William Conrad to James Arness was probably a shame from the perspective of how they sounded. Conrad had a great voice.)

In the same way, I don't think The Jack Benny Show broke new ground but it did what it did very well. Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, the Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, MASH--those broke ground in one way or another.

But I might not be familiar enough with the Jack Benny Show.

I don't think Burns and Allen broke new ground, either, but they were exceedingly good at what they did. But I might not be familiar enough with their work, either.

I don't think Lost is really a new trope for television shows; I see it as heir to the Prisoner, but with a larger cast.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

I see it as heir to the Prisoner, but with a larger cast.

And without a tenth of the writing talent, unfortunately. And without the grace to realize that it's not a longterm series. But then, that latter is a problem that's generally applicable to US television.

[doc-lemming.livejournal.com]

Consequence of how US series are sold in contrast to UK series. (And the different meaning of the word "series" and how the two different series are kept on the air.)

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

True. These days, I far prefer series built by the cable networks in the US -- they seem to be much more in line with the kind of TV produced in the UK and elsewhere that's not American Network TV... (i.e. Six Feet Under, Rome, Deadwood, Sopranos, Carnivale, etc, etc)

Now if only those bastards at Showtime would release the Chris Isaak Show on DVD my life would be happier (and now, cue The Bitter Guy pionting and guffawing)... 8)

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Anything before 1995 in fact, with the exception of the Simpsons!

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[maliszew.livejournal.com]

That's what you get for reading AICN. The whole site seems designed to add the frisson of enragement to my life.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I only syndicate its traffic and actually click through to the merest fraction of its articles (typically the notices of huge sales on Amazon, and lists of the interesting new DVDs upcoming). All the other crap I just (most often) ignore.

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

No children's TV, either (Sesame Street, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, The Electric Company).

And where is The Odd Couple? The original Twilight Zone? The Muppet Show? The Prisoner?

::B::

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

In short, Empire magazine are a bunch of completely incompetent boobs. And this may stretch to AICN who had the temerity to "report this story"... 8)

[madmanofprague.livejournal.com]

They made a TV show of Gunsmoke? :O

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

ROTFL