tv or movies

Really. I waited for almost a year to rewatch Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and then got kicked off the list b/c I didn't pick it up w/in 4 days of it arriving at my branch.

This is kind of your fault, though. If libraries didn't do this sort of thing, it would take even longer for you to get your stuff.

i'm really not trying to be a dick there, i honestly don't understand the difference you're trying to point out

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

Yes!

ps i am a librarian

― n/a, Tuesday, December 13, 2011 11:53 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

showing you're a pretty terrible one itt

good thing i have ilx posting to fall back on

so you don't have to invest 1.5 hours in a movie to get something out of it?

the specific amount of time is not the issue. It's more the phenomenon of say, having to watch several episodes of something before it becomes funny. Which has always struck me as odd. Good comedy should be funny right off the bat. Movies work in a different way.

xp

Good comedy should be funny right off the bat.

yeah all comedy shd be relentless pies in the face

and usually it's not a question of continuity - ie, a joke being set up early on that pays off four episodes later (altho this does happen with the better serialized shows like Sopranos, Mad Men, the Wire, etc.). It's more a question of developing a familiarity with a show's rhythms and tropes and then once you've internalized those you come to see the comedy in them... A lot of times I don't want to go through that process. Like with Parks and Rec I just didn't think the jokes were funny, I didn't want to have to sit through 4 episodes of bad jokes before I laughed at one, that seems like a waste of time.

xp

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

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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