tv or movies

i haven't seen a movie this year that was as funny, or true, as the second season of Louis. if you guys have seen one, tell me about it bc i would like to watch it.

Maybe if I had a different (bigger?) entertainment set-up, but there's no way I'm as immersed at home as I am in a darkened movie theater.

I'll admit that one advantage to watching at home is that I can pause to use the bathroom instead of sitting in discomfort for an hour because I'm afraid I'll miss something, as I did last weekend when I saw Shame. But the best movie experiences for me are ones where there aren't any interruptions at all.

like I am 99.9% certain that the totally insane but not particularly well-made slasher flick "Silent Night, Deadly Night" that I watched last night was better than anything that was on any available TV channel.

Now let's not go overboard here.

wire, sopranos, breaking bad, mad men, louie, west wing (first 3 seasons or so), party down, eastbound and down (1st season), 30 Rock (first 2 seasons) parks & friggin rec >>> than 98.9% of all movies i've seen in the last several years. it's possible i've missed some really good ones due to laziness but

I like movies but I watch more TV now, and I have been enjoying TV more than movies (for lots of the reasons already stated in this thread). Part of the change is access - with Netflix streaming and iTunes and Amazon and Hulu and all that, I have access to a lot of TV shows that I either couldn't get to before, or didn't want to mess with because of commercials/having to be home at the right time.

Maybe it's better to differentiate between TV as "what is playing per the channel channel at any given time" and TV as "serialized episodic visual entertainment." Because I'm thinking of it as the latter, and even including stuff like web-based series and stuff like Louis CK's $5 download comedy special.

Because TV as defined by what is air right now at any given moment is largely crap, but by the second definition, it's pretty fantastic.

Also, strangely, I have noticed a recent shift in my tastes wherein I prefer movies to be pleasant escapist entertainment, while I like TV shows that are challenging and complex and sometimes difficult to watch. It used to be the exact opposite - movies were for engaging my brain, while TV was for shutting it down.

almost all tv is bad. really bad. worse than watching a bad movie.

I agree with this 100%, and I still vote for TV over movies. Because the small percentage of really good TV is really good. The better stuff is sort of becoming more of a niche product, but I think we're on the cusp of the television industry being hit with new and different viewer expectations in much the same way the recording industry was hit several years back, so I think you're going to see an increasing number of experimental models that cater more to those niche viewers (a la Netflix's distribution of new Arrested Development episodes). I think judging TV on the basis of the material that thousands of channels scrape together in order to have something to broadcast 24/7/365 is as wrongheaded as judging music on the basis of the fact that you can hear "Moves Like Jagger" three times an hour on the radio. There are ways other than mindlessly gawping at some stupid channel for hours to engage with the medium, and I doubt that's how most people who enjoy television enjoy television.

And jenny more or less beat me to it while I was writing.

Whoever you are, you have excellent and well-reasoned opinions.

Lol at the main anti-TV people being like "I haven't watched TV in years." way to invalidate your opinion.

sorry let me go buy a new tv just to make sure I still don't like tv

yeah it's pretty much impossible to watch tv today w/out having an actual set there are no other routes/models of watching television things over the last ten years

Lol at the main anti-TV people being like "I haven't watched TV in years." way to invalidate your opinion.

I turn on the TV pretty much every night after dinner and 9 times out of 10 there is nothing decent on that I haven't seen before. There are no new episodes of the Sopranos, or Mad Men, or 30 Rock. I have seen all the Simpsons and South Park episodes I ever want to see. Always Sunny's seasons are like 10 episodes long or something...? I am always better off getting a movie from the local shop.

TV, by a lot. Even in novels I love, I don't attach emotionally to characters, but in really good TV I do. The episode of Louie this season when he professes his love to Pamela Adler was more powerful to me than any (new) movie I've seen in years. And Luck, last night, looked better than any recent movie I can think of.

I'll totally cop to this being an attention-span and setting thing, too - watching DVDs at home, I'm too connected with the outside world. I'll start looking up the actors or directors or something that catches my interest. Can't do that in a theater so I'd much rather see movies in one - but what makes it to theaters (even the Angelikas/Landmarks near me) usually isn't worth paying $20 plus gas to see.

and I dunno, I guess I don't see much TV because if I'm looking to get into a new show there's almost always something highly touted that I haven't seen. I bought the first season of Breaking Bad recently and I haven't seen 90% of the Community run that's on Hulu now.

dumbest fucking fucking poll ever

I do not watch/enjoy the thing you are comparing with the thing I do watch/enjoy = 'dumbest fucking fucking poll ever'

because the answer is obvious or because there can't be made a valid comparison or because you can't choose or because you require the correct capitalisation of abbreviations or why, exactly?

tv's been better than movies for years, imo

that's nice

bye

(what really sucks is music)

everything but the internet sucks

true!

Morbs...never change.

xp!

!

i'm feeling like it could be with dramas, esp including like foreign films, docs, whatever kind of movie hip in-the-know ppl like, movies are still superior to tv. but in terms of laughs i'd love to hear from someone who believes there are more lols to be had from movies

internet has more lols than tv

I agree w/ you tho, film has always been a shitty medium for comedy

i dunno 'drive' had em rollin in the isles

i'd probably answer internet in a tv or movies or internet poll

drive is serious face ryan gosling movie right?

p much co-signing morbs here BUT
it's frustrating to me that no-one has really mentioned any movies (apart from bridesmaids), either those that were good, back in the day, or are good, now, BUT ALSO
it's also frustrating to me that louie is being held up as the competition for film because i do like that show an awful lot and in fact as much as i like a lot of cinema. but that's a credit to the show, rather than a way to denigrate film, & it's being made of something that imo is like the apex of tv.

i'm feeling like it could be with dramas, esp including like foreign films, docs, whatever kind of movie hip in-the-know ppl like, movies are still superior to tv. but in terms of laughs i'd love to hear from someone who believes there are more lols to be had from movies

yeah i don't really feel like we were even arguing if the debate was 'comedy tv' or 'comedy film'

so really my answer is tv but not bc i'm watching more tv these days and more bc i'm just watching way more comedies these days. i'm so much less interested in most dramas including tv dramas.

still all this tv renaissance stuff is like, people naming a dozen shows. I am sure there were at least 20 movies I didn't see this year that I would have enjoyed very much, it's hard to figure out which 20 those would be, but still. whereas the tv renaissance is like, people talking about *the same shows* cause really outside of those shows tv is horrible, the worst it has ever been.

your argument is basically that bc you're sure movies also have 20 things you'd enjoy very much, that means tvs 20 great things doesn't excuse tv for being terrible? like, there are still shitty movies all over the place and it's the worst it has ever been so what's your point?

i want to insert something molly lambert said in a rambling blog entry about how tv is for women and movies are for men, but that sounds impossibly glib because i don't remember exactly how she said it. the context was that she thought tv had given women more opportunities to create/direct/write than the movie industry has. if that sounds dumb it is my fault, not molly lambert's.

in the longer term tv is gonna get more internety and the cable networks are screwed and it's prob gonna be good for short comedies that can be made cheaply and not great for $2m an episode dramas.

i am basically morbs here but for me this is like a poll of snacks vs. meals.

i eat snacks way more these days!
eating snacks is so much more comfortable!
i can do it on my couch!
lots of REALLY GOOD snacks out there today!

what a weird comparison between something you need to live situated in various models of ritual eating that span human existence and entertainment made by ppl in relatively novel human industries

There are definitely a lot more prominent female tv writers than movie writers

your argument is basically that bc you're sure movies also have 20 things you'd enjoy very much, that means tvs 20 great things doesn't excuse tv for being terrible?

my argument is I have seen like 10 of those '20 great things' and I liked 4 of them, and there aren't any more hiding on some obscure cable channel, whereas there are always dozens of good movies being made across the world

12 tv shows * 15 hours of viewing apiece = 174 hours of quality viewing = 87 movies

+ 40 movies worth of commercials

only film has sent me into hypnagogic states of mind where i commune with being blah blah, no amount of awesome plot from a tv show can compete with that.

xp to mordy you're kind of proving my suspicion that people who think tv is superior or whatever have no imagination

there are no commercials when you download everything from the internet

ya which is why tv is doomed

because even people who like it hate it

yeah all comedy shd be relentless pies in the face
football in the groin

tbf football in the groin works on so many levels

ILL would be a great setting for a hilarious TV comedy (not really)

Ha, the other night at drinks, a few of us were actually discussing the idea of a library as a setting for a workplace sitcom.

http://aklemai.com/albums/album34/FootballGroin.gif

not saying that people don't sometimes excuse weak material with "you just have to get into it" but it's crazy to exclude all comedy that involves meticulous build-up of observation or establishment of expectations

obviously I'm referring primarily to the former scenario.

didn't they try a "party girl" sitcom?

I don't think the first few episodes of Parks and Rec were particularly funny. If I were recommending the show to someone I knew would be impatient, I would tell them to start with Season 2, and I don't think they would miss out on much. But ultimately I didn't mind watching them because they created context and familiarity. And one of the things that TV has on movies is that allows you to develop relationships with characters over time. I watch P&R not just for the laffs but also b/c I care about those people.

it's not just lesser shows people are pretending to like that take some time to really get invested in, it's pretty much EVERY SHOW, especially if you're watching it from the beginning and it's one of the 99% of good shows that had a shaky start

and then sometimes you invest yrself in a show that turns to shit... like, say BSG or (I have been led to understand) Lost.

xp That's true: most shows take at least a few episodes to find their rhythm, figure out what they do best.

my choice of films over tv wasn't a judgment of quality, it was more about which one fits my lifestyle better - actually i agree that the best tv is great because it allows you into this self-contained and detailed world that references back to itself, past events, different characters etc all the time. i just don't have the time for that sort of entertainment! and following tv in a more dilettantish kind of way feels way less satisfying.

films are both more disposable, weirdly (in that all you have to commit is a couple of hours then it's over) but also more intense an experience.

(I have been led to understand) Lost.

yeah, I wouldn't mind having those 130-something hours of my life back, tbh

something else i like about tv is that it doesn't have to tell you the whole story in two hours, so it's just more relaxed about everything.

in screenwriting there's this golden rule that every line of dialogue has to say something about both the plot and the character saying it, which is like seriously rigorous, and i feel like usually this mentality stretches out to every other aspect of the movie as well: you've got like an hour 45 and that's IT so every microparticle of the soundtrack and set and everything has to be honed to extract the maximum impact of whatever it is the director's trying to do. (this is one reason i think there are so many heist movies and thrillers, which you don't get so much of on tv - the characters' lives turn on the same kind of nanosecond mechanics that directors have trained themselves to excel at in the crafting of their movies). not all movies have this kind of saturation of meaning but most seem to. and sometimes it's great when the whole thing really clicks like a well-oiled machine. but i like to watch things unfold languidly too, or seemingly at random, or with small stakes - no big weddings or nuclear bombs - and tv seems suited to that because of its serial nature and its length.

i mean even in something as slow and natural as "i've loved you so long", there's really not a single wasted shot.

i guess another contributing factor here is what morbs hates - tv has to share space with the rest of your house, and it doesn't envelop your senses the same way, so it doesn't make as much sense to invest every frame with freighted meaning cause half the audience just put a forkful of ramen in their mouths

and then sometimes you invest yrself in a show that turns to shit... like, say BSG or (I have been led to understand) Lost.

Lost was like a really fun and engaging videogame that ends not with some awesome boss but rather with a screenshot of the designers thanking you for playing. And also they're flipping you off and one of them has your toothbrush up his ass.

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