CURRENT Television

[Rainswept]

No no no. People actually watch 30 Rock, and it won't get canceled. I was referring to awesome shows that get canceled because no one watches them.

Arrested Development lasted over 50 Episodes. If you want an awesome show that didn't last, try Firefly.

[Mad Willyum Bonney]

No no no. People actually watch 30 Rock, and it won't get canceled. I was referring to awesome shows that get canceled because no one watches them.

Arrested Development lasted over 50 Episodes. If you want an awesome show that didn't last, try Firefly.

Space : Above And beyond , created by Morgan and Wong who also wrote many episodes of the X-Files .

It deserved more than one season .

[FaithfulPirate42]

No no no. People actually watch 30 Rock, and it won't get canceled. I was referring to awesome shows that get canceled because no one watches them.

Arrested Development lasted over 50 Episodes. If you want an awesome show that didn't last, try Firefly.

Or The Tick (with Patrick Warburton). Or Greg the Bunny. Or, really, anything Fox has canceled within the first season. It seems to be there business plan.
"Ahhhh! A good show! Cancel it! Yank the plug now, before people realize there are alternatives to the crappy reality shows we always have on!"
Although, NBC did the same thing with Cupid a while back. I rather liked that show, so it's good to see they'll be starting it back up again. I wonder if it'll be as good without Jeremy Piven.

[PKMKII]

No no no. People actually watch 30 Rock, and it won't get canceled. I was referring to awesome shows that get canceled because no one watches them.

Let's look at the 2007-08 viewer rankings, shall we? Is 30 Rock in the top ten? Oh, not even close. 20? nope. 50? Getting warmer. 100? Almost there. It's sitting there at 113th, around such powerhouses as the Singing Bee and Cops 2. But hey, it almost had as many viewers as the cavemen show.

(BTW, the comparison was based on them both having a bad viewer-to-awards-won ratio, not on absolute viewer numbers).

[Rainswept]

Viewer to awards-won ratio? The point is 30 Rock has won so many awards it's pushed itself down the list ?

30 Rock is easily one of the funniest shows on television, if not the funniest. I really think the ratings system must be flawed. 30 Rock is one of the few shows I hear people talking about at school.

[PKMKII]

Viewer to awards-won ratio? The point is 30 Rock has won so many awards it's pushed itself down the list ?.

The point is that despite all the accolades piled upon it, those accolades haven't seemed to do much in terms of motivating people to watch the show, which is basically the same problem Arrested Development had: lots of awards, few viewers.

[Rainswept]

It's not like the two things are connected. I mean hell, this is the 18th season of Jerry Springer.

[PantyGnawer]

No no no. People actually watch 30 Rock, and it won't get canceled. I was referring to awesome shows that get canceled because no one watches them.

Let's look at the 2007-08 viewer rankings, shall we? Is 30 Rock in the top ten? Oh, not even close. 20? nope. 50? Getting warmer. 100? Almost there. It's sitting there at 113th, around such powerhouses as the Singing Bee and Cops 2. But hey, it almost had as many viewers as the cavemen show.

Hmmm. I did not know that.

What the two shows share is that the humor of both is a little too highbrow for most Americans. Most Americans are programed to only laugh when a laughtrack signals the punchline. 30 Rock is a little more outright with some of their humor and doesn't have a thousand inside jokes like AD. I think 30 Rock will be around for at least a little while longer than AD.

At least we do still have the AD movie to look forward to!

[Rainswept]

It's perceived as highbrow, but I don't really think most of it is. The highbrow jokes are pretty well offset by lots that anyone can get, which is what's been so successful for Simpsons and Family Guy. I guess the animated shows have the advantage of being able to hit you with jokes at about the rate of a machine gun, though.

[PKMKII]

It's not like the two things are connected. I mean hell, this is the 18th season of Jerry Springer.

Well of course not, everything on the top ten of that list I posted is pure drivel except House. I was just pointing out that 30 Rock's ratings aren't that good, I wasn't trying to argue that that makes it a bad show, or that shows with higher viewer ratings are better.

[PantyGnawer]

It's perceived as highbrow, but I don't really think most of it is. The highbrow jokes are pretty well offset by lots that anyone can get,

Indeed. I myself missed one of their greatest jokes ever the first time around because I didn't know the reference. Liz's dad (Dick) said "You can't have a "Lemon Party" with out old Dick".

If you don't get the reference just take my word that its really funny or google at your own peril.

[Detective TurtleHolmes]

It's funny. You 'merrckins get hundreds of channels on your cable televisions, but infrequently do you get something great. The only reason I'm glad that Australia is still connected to Britain is that we get a lot of their TV.

It's not that we couldn't get it on TV, so much as we don't "get" a fair portion of British humor I think. I had to rewind Torchwood every few minutes and try again to understand what was just said, for one thing, because British and American English have grown apart far enough that I simply don't know many of the words and phrases used. It's also worth pointing out that the customs which are common and funny to you make for jokes that I get must be jokes, and yet I know I'm missing.

Dr. Who, for example, travels in time using a police box. I'm sure that would be funnier if I knew what the hell a police box was.

In looking this up, I discovered there have been 11 actors who played Dr. Who, and that it's on the air even now. See, the only time I ever remember seeing an episode Tom Baker played him.

I don't even know what a police box is, but I think it's a telephone box that only calls the cops. And Tom Baker? That was a while back. He was one of the best, though.

But I agree with the British and American English differences. It's not so bad here because we're a bit of a blend of them both, but I can understand that, because apparently Americans speak really slow, and British people speak really fast.

I have all the episodes of Flight of the Conchords, but haven't watched it in a while. It's a great show.

Are you aware the second season is on?

What? I thought there were only 18 (or 13, can't remember) episodes! How dare they air a second season without telling me!

It'll be on here in 'Stralia soon, I dare say.

[thelastpirate]

A police box is a tiny police station which you used to get on street corners. It has a phone on the outside which only calls the local police station which the public could use (and which the beat officer would use to keep in contact), but inside it has an 'office' which would have a desk and a heater. The light on top would flash when the phone was ringing.

[Zankou 2.0]

Doctor Who does not travel through time in a police box, or a telephone box. It is called a TARDIS. It only looks like a police box.

[PKMKII]

because apparently Americans speak really slow, and British people speak really fast.

That entirely depends on where in America you are. I spent the first several years of my life living in New Jersey, and then when I was about 7 or 8 I moved to the midwest. For the first few years there, I constantly had teachers telling me to slow down when I spoke .