Drawn Together. - _-
The Dollhouse.
A bunch of hyper-sexualized women held in coffins against their will in a state of childlike innocence. Intermittently, they have personalities downloaded into them, using computer technology, making them Alpha-powered super-assassins.
When one of them gets too woke, she is suppressed, coerced, and gaslit into buying back into the fascist agenda of the faceless corporation running the Dollhouse.
Did you not finish the show? There’s an entire apocalypse and redemption arc you’re just glossing over.
As someone who’s never seen this, this sounds like a good premise for something horribly dystopian. Unless the series isn’t about how terrible this is…
Not a show, but there’s an absolutely wild rom-com christmas movie that came out in 2007 called Holiday in Handcuffs where a this young woman after getting broken up with again decides to just abduct a dude and drag him to the family’s cabin they rented up in the mountains, an they fall in love over the course of it and eventually he calls of his engagement to be with her. The premise is terrible, but it kinda circles all the way around into being so bad its good (and at points seems self-aware of how fucked up the whole premise is) and if you’re like my family, its worth tracking down to keep in the rotation of terrible holiday movies since it breaks up the malaise of Hallmark movies
Anything made by Dan Schneider, because he was outed as a huge creep. And even if he hadn’t been outed as a huge creep, the content in most of his shows, especially the foot stuff, is really inappropriate at times in hindsight given those shows were aimed at tweens and teens.
Like, really, Dirty Dan? You think your freaky stuff is appropriate viewing for people who are still in grade school in some cases? No wonder that guy was outed as a creep. And I thought some of his stuff was funny when I was still in his target demo and didn’t even know of the creepy on-set behavior until after I had been aged out of his shows for 20+ years… -sigh- Hindsight sucks.
Also, the guy was really bad about recycling plots from his other properties, eg. iCarly’s plot, being that the older sibling is left to take the place of an absentee parent and care for the younger sibling in their absence, is recycled from What I Like About You, it just replaces the older sister from that property with an older brother, but that’s neither here nor there, I’m just pointing out a lack of originality with that.
Although tbf, Dirty Dan is just a symptom of a far bigger problem in Hollywood. That doesn’t diminish his behavior in any way though, it just points towards deeper systemic rot that he was a result of. His on-set abuse was still awful, but he’s a symptom of Hollywood’s abusive culture, and not the root cause.
The root cause for his behavior is decades of systemic industry-wide unmitigated rot that effectively allows those types of environments, and people like Dirty Dan, to exist in that industry.
Manswers and 1000 Ways to Die are also kinda cringe trash in hindsight as well. Hell, that can be said for basically all of the former Spike TV’s library.
His on-set abuse was still awful
Did he diddle kids? No.
Did he script some things that adults would interpret as inappropriate sexually, but kids wouldn’t even notice? Yes.
Had that writing technique been used in children’s programming for decades? Yes. Even The Flintstones had sexually inappropriate double-entendres meant to make adults giggle but children wouldn’t even notice.
Dan Schneider’s Nickelodeon TV shows had excellent writing, acting, and music.
I’m not defending him but I don’t understand why people continually lambaste him more than Brian Peck & others who actually DID rape kids?? It makes me sick to think about & talk about but it’s all in that documentary An Open Secret.
well, there was this
I feel like That 70’s Show would apply here… maybe not as poorly aged as some of the others mentioned but definitely in the running
I can confirm I re watched it two years ago
Anything with a laugh track
If there was a live audience that makes more acceptable for me, I just think of it like a stage play.
Watching Friends without the laugh track Is fucking surreal. There’s so much dead time. So many frames of actors just staring at each other lol
Married with Children is really hilarious for this because the live audience would just go nuts when the main cast would first appear in an episode. Especially Ed O’Neil and Christina Applegate. So many scenes where they come through a door and then just stand there for 30+ seconds holding a pose and making cute faces.
If you mute the sound of the laughter, you also need to delete the long awkward pauses that creates.
I’ve tried to re-watch Sex and the City but its impossible. I loved it back in the day.
Also the West Wing - I’m sure its still good but the current state of politics makes it look like satire.
West Wing is still amazing. It continues to upset when compared to reality.
The West Wing is a fantasy show about how you wish politics worked. Then we got Veep, which is how we thought politics really worked. Now we realize Veep was also a fantasy.
Veep still holds.
It ends with
spoiler
___the VP being a racist idiot promoting Christian math vs. the bad Muslim one who’s married his own sister. The president gets elected by giving Tibet back to China and banning same-sex marriage. The last thing we hear from her is “Shalom, David! So what did the Palestinians do this time?”. I mean… can it be any more perfect?
eureka. i tried to rewatch it recently and its… oof. one of the main characters has an autistic son who is a savant and they talk about hopefully finding a cure for autism someday. meanwhile pretty much all the scientists and engineers show actual autistic traits that im sure the writers thought were just quirky smart people traits. meanwhile the sheriffs house is voiced by a male character trying to do a womans voice and haha isnt it funny how its kind of inappropriate towards him constantly because its a dude doing a girl voice? then the constant perpetuation of stereotypes, nerd/jock bullshit, and really bad science thats just magic with a technological paint job.
autistic son who is a savant and they talk about hopefully finding a cure for autism someday
Dude this is the most nails on chalkboard trope of TV. I can’t stand the autistic savant trope
The ‘you’re fired’ show starring donny dump.
Oprah.
That cunt gave the anti vaccine idiots a platform and two charlatans a stage.
Fuck Oprah, fuck “dr.” Phil and especially fuck dr. Oz!
Oh and The Apprentice
Oprah was always shit for losers
She has such a bullshit rags to riches story that immediately falls apart because she’s a class traitor. She gave Oz a platform which has a direct through line to people like RFK/Joe Rogan. I’d argue she had a direct hand in the large movement of housewives that don’t believe in western medicine because she sells snake oil just like Oz and Phil.
she was just jerry springer for liberals
plus she wasnt she predator adjacent?
certainly looks like it, probably had a qouta to meet
House, MD is a top contender.
A lot of his edgy jokes were made in a time where being politically incorrect was daring and spicy, but now it just makes him come across as a bigot
But he is a bigot. And an asshole. I’ve never felt like the series was trying to represent House as a role model. He gets the consequences of his behaviour all the time, but never learns. People keep him around because he’s good at his job, and that’s it. Otherwise everyone gets tired of his shit real quick.
Nah, watched it only a year or two ago and it’s a mediocre show. Nothing terrible.
I think they put the focus on everything that wasn’t the premises of the show. I remember reading that they changed the plot because they test audience didn’t like that well they got sick and they ded.
Cops. To see how they just pummel people to the ground or pull their guns for the smallest of things is unsettling to watch. Also, the treatment of female officers.
The progression of COPS was really wild. It technically started in 1989 but the early episodes were a pretty far departure from the version you’re correctly calling out. They were a lot more visceral - I remember one episode where the officers showed up to a suicide. The guy used a shotgun in a pickup truck and the back windshield was blown out with blood and brains like dripping from it, and this is what the cameraman zooms in on for a solid 30 seconds.
It was just a lot more gritty and unrefined. That’s the interesting part for me, this show changed to the version you described where they only showed DV and beating up crackheads. They chose that; they went in that direction on purpose.
The one that always stuck with me was when they harassed a dude just walking down the street because he was in drag. But it was in, like, Plano, TX or something so that made it “suspicious.”
Another one I can’t remember was on COPS or just some bodycam footage of a gay teen who was beaten by his parents and kicked out getting arrested becsuse they claimed he assaulted them; despite being the only one completely battered and bruised and the neighbors defending the kid having witnessed him getting beaten by his father.
I guess when I responded to the original question, I was thinking about the 2000’s era COPS show and how it seemed to celebrate violence against others. So, by current standards, the old episodes really don’t hold up well in that it’s really not OK to be promoting this.
I’ve noticed similar changes to other police drama shows, like NCIS vs something like Tracker. In NCIS, the bad guy is usually taken down in a shootout. In newer shows, like Tracker, most of the time the bad guy is arrested. Hopefully this is a reflection on society changing.
A ton of COPS was filmed in pierce county Washington, where I grew up, I still think about how that undoubtedly changed my life in likely imperceptible ways to this day
The Man Show
And now, girls jumping on trampolines
Scrolling through this, a few thoughts come to mind:
- I forgot how deep into the decade Friends went, and it was definitely well past its sell-by date several seasons before it ended.
- Will & Grace probably best fits as a show that aged poorly, though it was groundbreaking in putting gay characters front and center at all.
- As shows that won’t be remembered as fondly because they’re cringey relics of their era, it’s a dead heat between Sex and the City and Entourage. Entourage is worse, but I think contemporary viewers already knew that.
- Honorable mention to Joss Whedon and Ricky Gervais personally making their classic shows a lot harder to enjoy.
I forgot why I must hate Ricky Gervais.
I thinl he is funny but some people don’t like the fact that he is no pc
He makes you regret sharing his views, I think, but I’m a little fuzzy on him myself; he was relevant for a hot second.
What are your thoughts on SaTC? I’m sporadically re-watching it and it seems pretty solid. Maybe comically conservative for such an “edgy” show, but nothing horrible. The writing, directing, and acting is top notch. I’m just in Season 3 at the end of the affair with Big (Mrs. Big falls down the stairs chasing Carrie).
From what I understand, Carrie completely goes off the rail in the movies, and the writing doesn’t call her out, but I don’t know why that should retroactively condemn the entire series; so far, I’m leaning towards the youtube media pundit set wanting morality tales instead of deeply flawed and interesting characters.
Deeply flawed and vapid, but sure. The problem is they don’t get their comeuppance and their worst traits are not even played for comedy, unlike Sunny, Seinfeld, Curb, Arrested Development… It always left a bad taste in my mouth, but I didn’t watch much (my mom watched it some times, those are the only times I caught it) so maybe the more problematic ones had good arcs and developed into more likeable characters. TBF, I also didn’t like Breaking Bad because a terminal cancer diagnosis does not morally allow one to become a murderous drug lord, lol, and I don’t wanna follow a character I can only hate. 🤷♂️
Yeah, SaTC is definitely one of those shows that farms the relatibility of its characters and errs on the side of protecting that identification over condemning the characters. It also can’t go too far in that direction because there is a political project to bring independent, liberated women to the screen–though of course, centering every story around chasing men absolutely undercuts the whole thing. I agree it is flawed, but wouldn’t characterize it as vapid; it’s pretty sharp IMO.
I couldn’t put up with BB, too intense! But I think you’re probably missing out on a lot of good shows if you don’t watch them because of some simplistic moral judgment you overheard, I understand the show is quite a bit more complex than “here’s your free pass to be a bad guy and let’s celebrate together”, though ANY time violence is involved, you get chuds with no emotional depth and desperate power-craving fantasies who fall in love it with for the wrong reasons; just like there is an argument that no truly-anti-war movie has ever been made.
I also didn’t like Breaking Bad because a terminal cancer diagnosis does not morally allow one to become a murderous drug lord
That’s not the plot at all. His terminal cancer diagnosis had him confront the fact that his family was in dire trouble with him gone. He used his knowledge of chemistry (as a teacher) to produce and sell a little meth, as this was his only means of helping his family. The modern equivalent of “stealing a loaf of bread”, and all that.
His whole life, he was a bit of a square loser. Society didn’t respect him or his disabled son. Once he realized what this new world allowed, he slowly was consumed by the power it gave him. This corrupted him and snowballed gradually into a murderous drug lord.
The point is, we all have the potential to become that. You see it in rich people (especially billionaires). You see it in politicians. It’s a classic tale of power corrupting, coming from a slightly different angle. The writers and cast also corrupt the viewer by slowly making them root for the anti-hero, which ought to be a reality check for those watching.
Honestly what killed that show for me was in the like second episode or whatever when his rich friend offered to just pay for the cancer treatment and Walter refused because he was too proud.
I get that that’s the point of the story, to show that he chose all of this. But it made his character just too deeply unsympathetic for me. Just take your rich friend’s money, ya jackass.
Fair, and I guess it depends on how you view the world. Me? Yeah I’m not proud, I’ll take the money. But I also know people who absolutely would not. I think it comes back to him always being disrespected by society and thinking that charity would continue that disrespect.
That’s not pride, that’s deep insecurity and weakness turning into sociopathic selfishness and rage. That’s not a protagonist for me, but hey my wife liked the show so you know, it’s just a matter of sensibilities I guess. 🤷♂️👍
I tried rewatching How I Met Your Mother and couldn’t get more than a few episodes in because I was so bored. I’m sure my getting older is partly to blame (not as engaged by the unrealistic exploits of some mid 20-somethings), but also Friends-style comedy feels outdated now.
I tried watching it for the first time like 5 years ago because of all the memes and to understand why people kept mentioning it and I couldn’t last one episode.
How I Met Your Mother is such a strange combination Aughts tropes. I mean its Friends but everyone pretty quickly becomes not good people like Seinfeld. It’s a sitcom but it’s also a puzzle box mystery like Lost. The lead, Josh Radnor, is an obvious Timu version of Zac Braff.
And yet it was huge at the time. Ran for nine seasons, completely reignited Neil Patrick Harris’s career, second staged Jason Segel in to not just that guy from Freaks and Geeks, but a legit movie star. Broke open Cobie Smulders in to another movie star. And yet it’s almost completely forgotten about. Until you mentioned it I think it’s more then one or two times on Lemmy, you never see gifs or memes from it. It’s like it was completely forgotten for our shared cultural landscape almost as soon as it was over. I think the only thing it was remembered for was how bad they fucked up the ending and Game of Thrones has taken that from them even.Are we living through the same maddening decline of civilization? I’ve both seen and posted this absurdity numerous times on Lemmy…
Weirdly, though, Friends seems to hold up better.
Despite being much older, I recall walking through a room where a friend’s roommates were watching Friends around 2016. I was stuck by two things:
First, that I’d noticed that a bunch of people seemed to be getting into Friends for the first time. I think it had just come to Netflix, and in addition to folks nostalgia watching, Gen z and younger millennials were discovering it. Which was why it was on.
Second, it was really watchable. I immediately paused to join them, and the jokes were landing. It had been a very long time since I’d watched a show with a laugh track, but it worked. The show was solidly entertaining.
Friends probably holds up better because the Barney character just doesn’t work today. So much of his humour is just cringe. Friends’ PG-quality ironically makes it more suitable since there are no characters reveling in sexual assault.
Yeah Friends is just a better show I’m sure. It definitely had a deeper bench on screen. Lisa Kudro is probably the best ‘dumb blonde’ of the last 30 years and that kind of part isn’t easy. Cortney Cox and Matthew Perry were really good comic actors and David Schwimmer is good actor if not a good comic actor. And Jenn Aniston and Matt LeBlanc sure were good looking.
Put that up against any other cast in any other sitcom and I think you’d have to go back to I Love Lucy to find a better one.
The show expertly targeted young Millennials transitioning into adulthood. But the audience grew up and matured. Watching HIMYM now is like time warping back to your first apartment after college and being a little embarrassed at the way you and your old friends used to be.
I don’t know, Friends did the same for pre-9/11 20somethings and I don’t mind watching rewatching the early seasons of that. And look how many memes there are from friends. I think there’s more to it then just the cringe factor of looking back.
My working theory is that puzzle box shows like HIMYM and Lost don’t hold up on rewatching because you get invested in the mystery (who’s the mother - what’s going on with this island) and now you know so the shows kind of lost.I don’t thing anyone watched HIMYM for learning who the mother was.
Maybe not but the TvTropes wild mass guessing page is huge. Full of people trying to figure out all sorts of stuff. A lot of the fun in the show seems to be figuring out they’ll get from late 2000’s stuff to the end game in 2030.
