Writers on Strike

I vegged out for a couple of hours yesterday in front of HGTV and guess what? No sex.  Not one drop of blood.  The only  thing that got mangled was a really cruddy looking kitchen counter top.

Joyce

oy would that it were MY counter Joyce. I so need a new one. It's laminate...it's yellow...and it's from 1978!

rwbeagles

oy would that it were MY counter Joyce. I so need a new one. It's laminate...it's yellow...and it's from 1978!

A couple of years or so ago Corian lost the patent on its ingredients - so all kinds of other companies are putting out the same thing only with a different name. When I got my new counter top it was called Hi-Mac and even though it's the exact same thing as Corian, it was about half the price.

Joyce

rwbeagles

I am just happy AMERICAN GLADIATORS is back.

All right you got me on that one...   i look at American Gladiator the same way i look at Hockey, Rugby, and Football... never watched a japanese game show however.. a sport is a sport. a physical challenge is a physical challenge. they have rules and guidelines and safety precautions like any other sport. but even then.. watch enough NASCAR, or PBR and you'll eventually see someone die....

 honestly i would rather the reality shows all come back because the programs do seem to be competing on who can be the nastiest and show the most entrails within the bounds of the FCC.. same thing with popular music. it used to be the innuendos that the song writer put in there for you to catch ("I've got a brand new pair of roller skates, you've got a brand new key" vs "My neck.. my back.." wont even finish with that one as its against forum rules to talk that way lol) its all so blatant today that no one gets to figure it out. you dont have to think... its not acceptable for the Forensic Detective to say he had his head cut off, and he was drawn and quartered on play ground equipment... nope they SHOW you. why?

rwbeagles

Last I checked DD...*I* taught my child values...not TV, the computer, video games, or books...but me.

right.. but you and i are in the minority of parents that still do those things.. heck... the girl that killed herself over a Myspace account... her mom was standing right there monitoring the interactions and she couldnt even protect her kid from some mind twisting sicko. i've already decided my kids can use the computer but they will not be in chat rooms or have blogs. if they want friends then they can make them at school or on the playground. and even then its not safe. even physical friends can influence your kids. Remember when you told us about your daughter's friend trying to entice her to go to VBS because they had a pony? i know that if it was one of my sisters listening they would have been begging their mom to take them to VBS....  each kid is different yes, your influence and teaching helps, yes... but is it ever enough? The old saying was "It takes a village to raise a child"  so what do you do if half village finds it acceptable to watch gore on tv? one of the dumbest, most violent movies i ever watched was at a baby sitter's house.... this little girl in the movie was psychotic... they showed her actually strangling a cat.. then showed her murdering her sister and setting her on fire at a piano recital and showed the mother's reaction upon discovering her dead daughter.. and the sister laughing. No i didnt turn out a murderous psycho because of that... but its bothered me ever since that a "trusted" adult would choose THAT movie to show to a couple of kids under the age of ten.

 
i dont know. its MY annoyance to be sure. i'm still going to be disappointed in the reality of how despicable people can be with what they find entertaining. its a double standard if you ask me. they say its completely wrong and horrible to watch a dog fight... but its ok to watch murder/rape/adultery on tv for entertainment. is it only different because its.... not real? these characters are made up somehow makes it better? how is that different from saying "Its just a dog?" A lot of people dont look at dogs as sentient creatures. they're just animals. they dont have feelings or a mind of their own. you teach it tricks, and it does what you tell it to.. therefore cannot think for itself.... kinda like a character in a tv show.... someone tells it what to do, and makes it do tricks.

houndlove

And guess what. I am not a drug addict, or a hooker, or a murderer, or a vice cop for that matter. And I never thought it was cool to hurt people or to hurt myself. Because my parents taught me my values, not the TV.

its a double dose for me to see this on tv and hear about it from family - they are all cops, prison guards, security guards, in the military.... if it involves a uniform and a weapon my family is involved..  i CANT get away from it. its on my tv, its in my house and being discussed over dinner, i hear about it on the radio..  i mean give it a rest already..

houndlove

And seriously have you read some of Shakespeare's plays?!? Talk about a bad influence! Murder, cross-dressing, incest, racism, suicide, they've got it all!
 

rwbeagles

Bradley I've added Lou Holtz to my list of cool old dudes right by Lee Corso. His "Lou's Pep Talk" segment just is TOO cool for school! And I dig those huge thick glasses too lol.

i love those segments too! maybe espn should just have old coaches on their pregame and half-time shows?  

Yes I'd watch that lol. They are so funny. The sound bites they use in the Bud Light commercials crack me up. Bill Parcell's alone yields a ton of useful footage!

Lou's pep talk to OSU where he made fun of Gundy was the best one...but the one to Notre Dame...wow...*I* wanted to go out and put on some pads, and smash someone in the mouth after that one!

and THAT has been a source of annoyance for me as well... WTH were the teachers thinking making students read Romeo and Juliette?? under age sex AND murder AND suicide.. oh joy! Shakespeare wrote a LOT of plays... and they chose that one to let students read.

yeah... what about hamlet?? oh yeah, incest and murder in that one and perhaps a little schitzophrenia too boot, not to mention talking to ghosts.... julius caesar?? .... murder (by a friend no less!) 

for my money there is much more blood and gore on the history channel than main stream tv. (and it is all based on actual events! )

edit: oops... confusing shakespeare's plays. 

They pick Romeo and Juliet (and yes, as an English teacher, I taught it) because it is one of the more easily relateable plays for younger teens.  It's about kids and puppy love and the adults being big giant killjoys and it's about prejudice and about violence just begetting more violence. Most of the other plays contain a lot of themes that kids just don't "get" until they get a bit older. And the comedies can be really obtuse and, in parts, REALLY obscene. They're supposed to be funny, but a lot of the period humor goes over kids heads. Though I think "A Midsummer Night's Dream" would be a good training wheels play. But adolescents really can relate to Romeo and Juliet because, I'm sure you've noted, teenagers think they are the first people on the planet to ever feel a strong emotion. Everything is a HUGE TRAGEDY or THE BEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ANYONE and love is brand new and overwhelming OH! THE DRAMA! Romeo and Juliet reflects this quite well and adolescents tend to really get it.

The fact is this: just because something is portrayed in a book or in drama doesn't mean the viewer or reader is supposed to enjoy it or get their jollies from it. It's, well, it's drama. For there to be drama there has to be a conflict and sometimes conflicts aren't pretty. When we watch, say, CSI, we're not supposed to be rooting for the murderers and jonesing for more gore, we're supposed to be repelled by the gore and want the murderer to get caught by the good guys. And in many cases there is a catharsis for the viewer. Catharsis: the term in drama refers to a sudden emotional breakdown or climax that constitutes overwhelming feelings of great sorrow, pity, laughter or any extreme change in emotion that results in the restoration, renewal and revitalization for living. It was Aristotle that first talked about the catharsis created by viewing a staged drama. I mean, explain why anyone would watch Oedipus Rex otherwise! YIKES! Talk about illicit sex and violence and extreme emotions!

 for a more modern take on oedipus.... http://imdb.com/title/tt0111252

i guess i'm the only to think it odd that ... schools wont teach safe sex in sex ed.. but they'll encourage kids to read R&J?

i see the point and understand why they make them read that.... its like.. the first Dawson's Creek, or 90210...

incidentally in Shakespeare's time blood sports were legal and so was marrying your cousin.. something the royals and rich did to keep their bloodlines pure.. So of course the literature of those times is filled with that. it was perfectly acceptable because it was within the bounds of the law. it was also legal to beat the stuffing out of your wife and kids if you felt like it. it was also legal to oppress those below your class..
 

and i understand what a Catharsis is.. i took english classes (and passed them surprisingly well) and my mom has been a writer since before i was born. i've been exposed to the colourful world of creative writings since i was a kid but does that make it ok to entertain and show us the graphics of a brutal murder? or even the murder taking place? You can "want to catch the bad guy"without being assaulted with visuals of the act itself cant you. at the rate its going we'll all be able to watch porno after 10 on our local networks.. for FREE too! now there's some script writing for ya lol

I can see it really gets to ya. I personally can't relate much unfortunately...I am someone who watches CSI and loves the show. I also liked Quncy in it's day...and "Mystery!" on PBS as well even tho there was death and blood in them. I watch horror films occasionally and love action shoot em ups and martial arts films.

I watch things I find entertaining...being that I am an adult...that is my  option to choose. My kids do not have that same option...I make their choices for them for now. That's parenting.

What's on TV doesn't affect them anymore than I allow it to. Nor does it affect me personally any more than I allow it to. TV news is more likely to bother me than CSI. Because being an adult...I am aware that what is real is always more scary than what is pretend. It doesn't make me less tolerant of wrongdoing in real life...because as an adult raised by a caring parent...I know what wrong is and why it is. When my kids are able to make that jump, their TV experience will widen and expand...to suit their own particular preferences as young adults, teens, and finally...adults.

I don't think it's all that damaging to a people as a whole to watch such things...because far more peaceful societies watch far more sex and violence than we do every day...so that arguement kinda peters out.

i dont remember when or what or who said it, but was watching an interview years ago about british tv shows. at THAT time sex was the big seller.. and comedy. the actor they were interviewing pointed out that violence seems to be more popular in the states than over there.

i dont know if thats changed much. i know the UK has its own crime shows and have watched a few myself.. again i dont get off on it because i'm inundated with laws and crime due to my family's obsession with pursuing careers in the law field.. i almost in that direction myself by studying legal procedures and other lawyerly type things, but .. yes it does get to me..

really though.. to get back on topic.. sorta lol in regards to what writers are writing... how come the inflation of violence? why not more comedy? if its one thing we need now its more laughter. i believe the shows you watch and music you listen to can affect you emotionally..... which is one reason why i stopped listening to emo music.. it was depressing and full of self loathing, self pity, and hate towards people who "just didnt understand"

hypothetical i know. asking "why not more comedy instead of violence" is like asking "why do they call that a lamp"

OH!! yes one more thing about mindless and unoriginal tv shows.... that vampire show.. Moonlight i think its called... anyone notice how its disturbingly similar to an old 1990's vampire show called Forever Knight? they're both cops.. they're both vampires. one is called Mick and the other is Nick.. they both feel guilty for being vampires... i had to laugh and grimace at the same time.
 

 many of the shows i like are comedies... they are out there.... chuck, my name is earl, the office, the simpsons, back to you, how i married your mother, 'til death, 2 1/2 men....

tv writers write what they are paid to write. if the network execs want comedy, they write comedy.

 
i dont think there is more violence on tv than there was when i was a kid. maybe your perception of violent shows has changed? most of the cop shows on now dont actually show violence most of the time. the cops show up after the violence has occurred. law and order is one we watch most. they almost never show anyone getting shot. they show the body on the floor though, and the insuing investigation.

Hmmm…. I guess I am not seeing your point here DD. Again, I hate 99% of what is out there, but I make the choice not to watch it instead of getting frustrated with it.  Perhaps I have more freedom to choose because I do have 500+ channels to pick from???

If I want to watch something it is usually on the history channel, the military channel, occasionally HD discovery channel and I watch the office most weeks. Other than that I rent movies because I can find lots of things I like.  The industry puts put what people will watch… but it isn’t just in this country. Ever watch music videos from India?  FASCINATING what they will watch for entertainment actually.  

so getting back to the strike.. since that is the posted topic. Are you now saying you DON'T disagree with it?? I am confused on your stance....