Unpopular Opinions You Hold About TV Shows

[Spark Of Spirit]

At least you didn't say the Office.

[No-Personality]

British comedy, which I freaking love, isn't as laugh-out-loud funny as American comedy but it's typically far more carefully written and often if not usually smarter. Fawlty Towers is genius. It's a farce though; I can't think of almost anything American that comes close to being similar.

I think my favorite right now is French and Saunders. AbFab really is limited to the few seasons, Jennifer Saunders wrote more material for F&S and it's lasted longer. Speaking of laugh-out-loud, this sketch gets quite a few good audible laughs out of me. I actually think their sit-down conversation skits are some of the funniest stuff they do.

Eh, the only time I've ever found John Cleese funny was when he was on Cheers.

Cheers is one of the most boring sitcoms in television history.

[Foggle]

British comedy, which I freaking love, isn't as laugh-out-loud funny as American comedy but it's typically far more carefully written and often if not usually smarter.

I actually find it more laugh-out-loud funny because of that.

[No-Personality]

I'm also a bit slower to pick up on it than some.

[Lord Dalek]

Kuuga is the only truly great Heisei Kamen Rider.

[Avaitor]

Eh, the only time I've ever found John Cleese funny was when he was on Cheers.

Cheers is one of the most boring sitcoms in television history.

but yeah, name a show for me to watch after M*A*S*H. Party Down can wait

[Foggle]

Zatoichi, the TV series.

[Avaitor]

I was aiming for a Britcom, actually.

[Lord Dalek]

Space Sheriff Shaider is better than every and all toku made in the last 30 years (except Akibaranger and Kuuga).

[Peanutbutter]

I watched an episode or two of both Buffy and Angel, and I just couldn't get into either. I liked Firefly though from what I watched of it, though needless to say that's not an unpopular opinion.

[GregX]

I don't like Star Trek. At all.

In fact, this J. Michael Straczynski quote sums it up for me, perfectly.

As for the notion that it could use "a little of Trek's humanism," I don't much like the way that's been defined there. Seems to me that that version of "humanism" is placid, unpassionate, orderly and for the most part, with some exceptions, bloodless. To me, humanism means embracing our flaws as well as our nobilities, and saying that we don't have to shed our basic humanity in order to go to the stars, but that we remain *humans*, with all that entails. And we somehow persevere in SPITE of our flaws. I find the process of overcoming more interesting, and more human, than assuming that we've already overcome everything. The kind of humanism you're referring to isn't humanism, by my book. It's "we should all be nice to one another, and nobody should have any problems except the ones forced on us by bad guy aliens"...it's humanity as written by Barney the Dinosaur.

[Foggle]

"I suspect this is something a lot of people already knew--people who watched the show when they were older than 15, the age I was when I became a fan, and people who have gone back to it in the intervening years. More than anything else, Babylon 5 is a show for teenagers. The overblown dialogue, the broad humor, the melodramatic plots, the frequent monologues and speeches, and just in general the show's palpable sense of its own profundity must have been irresistible to the teenage set--to viewers looking for something grand and inspiring who weren't too interested in, or capable of, noticing the bad writing and obvious plotting. Who but a teenager, after all, could watch an EarthGov representative, who has just negotiated a non-aggression treaty with the patently evil Centauri, blissfully announce that "we will finally have peace in our time" without rolling their eyes? Who else would put up with entire paragraphs from 1984 being turned into dialogue for Night Watch representatives?"

-- Gene Roddenberry

[GregX]

"I suspect this is something a lot of people already knew--people who watched the show when they were older than 15, the age I was when I became a fan, and people who have gone back to it in the intervening years. More than anything else, Babylon 5 is a show for teenagers. The overblown dialogue, the broad humor, the melodramatic plots, the frequent monologues and speeches, and just in general the show's palpable sense of its own profundity must have been irresistible to the teenage set--to viewers looking for something grand and inspiring who weren't too interested in, or capable of, noticing the bad writing and obvious plotting. Who but a teenager, after all, could watch an EarthGov representative, who has just negotiated a non-aggression treaty with the patently evil Centauri, blissfully announce that "we will finally have peace in our time" without rolling their eyes? Who else would put up with entire paragraphs from 1984 being turned into dialogue for Night Watch representatives?"

-- Gene Roddenberry

That wasn't a Gene Roddenberry quote. That was a piece of comedy from a blogger.

[Dr. Insomniac]

"And the real plot is, as ever, white dudes being historic. Because Babylon 5 is dominated by white dudes. Let's pause here and note that Babylon 5 is actually one of the most impressively progressive shows of its time in terms of strong female characters and a diverse cast. It really is. But its lead is still a Great White Man of History both times such that the decision to have every single second in command be a woman is frustrating in the extreme. The only one of its three main alien ambassadors to be a woman is the one from the touchy-feely spiritual race. The chief of security position is always male. The station doctor is a man. Its female characters are reliably defined either by how they?re violated and used by men (either of the two main psychics) or rescued by dashing male heroes (Ivanova). And while it's reliably colorblind in its casting, it's colorblind in that frustrating way where they?ll cast any actor as long as the actor plays the part as if the character could just as easily be white. It?s telling that Straczynski freely filled in Ivanova?s Russian background as a major character trait, whereas Dr. Franklin, played by the (African American) Richard Biggs, never gets a single character trait that implies anything about his cultural heritage. And yes, of course this is all filed under the header of "but in the future we'll have eliminated racism," but that's the whole point - racism is eliminated by collapsing every culture into white European culture." - Phil Sandifer, PhD

This is definitely not to say that B5 is a bad show. Not at all. When the series was good, everything could just be full of splendor. But JMS is not an infallible word on humanity, as recent works such as Ninja Assassin can attest.

As for my own unpopular opinion, Babylon 5 only became good after the first-half of the third season, with the fourth season being one of the most pristine pieces of SF storytelling I've seen on television. Payoff was happening in every single episode, while plotlines like the Shadow War were allowed to become as exotic as possible. However, a bad first season, a lukewarm second season, Lochley, the movies, the Lost Tales, and forgotten plot points (Talia, anyone?) mean that I can't really take the "Lightyears Ahead of Anything Else on Television" tagline with any seriousness.

[Foggle]

That wasn't a Gene Roddenberry quote. That was a piece of comedy from a blogger.

You don't say.