Ananas

To be honest, I never got into either. It's not that I dislike either, guess I just became interested in it too late to the game and didn't feel like taking the effort to get caught up. I do like both Smallville and Roswell, so perhaps some time I'll rent some of the season DVDs.

Are you certain that those shows were any better, or does time make it seem better. I can't honestly watch a show like Roseanne or Drew Carey anymore due to how mercilessly cliched sitcoms have become. I know that the error of it's descendants shouldn't take anything away from what was, but Roseanne and Drew Carey both became nearly unwatchable towards the end of the shows runs. Some of todays sitcoms (most of this can be credited to FOX), don't rely on a laugh track to tell the audience when they are supposed to laugh. Unfortunately, some networks don't seem to be taking the hint and continue to develop sitcoms in search of the next Friends or Frasier, and in turn fail miserably. Why else do you think Reality TV is having such success? I'll concede that Law & Order and NYPD were both great advancements in television drama, but I'll also argue that shows like CSI and 24 are advancements on those earlier prototypes. 24's real time style has made every moment of every episode seem like must see TV. A show like CSI takes the shock value of network television to a new level. All the while, both shows are superbly acted. Now, your feelings about Reality TV aside, the show that spawned countless imitations, Survivor, has made for some of TV's most memorable moments. I'd agree with you that the show's success has led to some dilluted shows (The Littlest Groom, Joe Millionaire and The Bachelor come to mind) making it to air, but Survivor I think stands untouched as one of the better shows of the 21st Century to date. I can think of nothing (The Real World included) that combined real situations with intense TV any better from the 90's. I guess preference is what this comes down to. If you prefer a sharp traditional sitcom to the more experamentative (and definitely imperfect) dramadies of this most recent decade, then the 90's (and probably the 80's as well) are probably what you'd prefer. However, I'd tend to think that through the natural course of television, shows have been constantly evolving, and that what we have now is the natural next step in the evolution of TV. Sure, there is plenty of shit on the networks' schedules. Then again, there was plenty of shitty TV throughout the 90's (thirtysomething, Mad About You, Home Improvement, Wings and Murphy Brown all come to mind). Like I said, it all comes down to choice. P.S. The appeal of Scrubs is it's ability to do virtually any genre with ease, coupled with phenomenal acting performances and a never ending childlike innocence.

Friends also had the NBC marketing machine behind it. "Joan" didn't. And they didn't simply draw on the normal Friday television audience; they expanded on it. People stayed in to watch the show. No network had a Friday presence until CBS grabbed it with Joan of Arcadia. It wasn't out of marketing genius, but the show being really, really good.

Hmm... seems funny that a show with mediocre marketing and a terrible timeslot would attract such a large following if it sucked ass.

If you say that while shows like Scrubs, 24, Joan of Arcadia and Family Guy are on the air (I'll leave out The O.C. for argument's sake), what period exactly was TV alive? Before 2001 or so, comedies and dramas were completely cookie cut. Comedies went with the canned laughter while dramas went with the traditional triangular plot concept. With shows like Scrubs and Family Guy, sitcoms began to diversify, bringing the humour to the viewer instead of forced hilarity. Adding shows like 24 and Joan of Arcadia (and a ton of other shows that while I'm not a fan of are very original) gave way to original and creative concepts, most noteable obviously being the real time concept of 24. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel represents the dying breed of sci-fi teen dramas; the only one I can think of still around is Smallville. It was a concept that took off with those three shows (Roswell also included) and is now dying down. It's a trend, and one that in the greater scheme of things didn't last very long. Let it die. It seems to me that you're more resentful of The WB and UPN's treatment of your beloved two as opposed to real concern over the state of television. I challenge you, name another period in television where greater creativity and originality existed. In my opinion, there's more quality programming available now than ever, you just have to know where to look for it.

Kimmel Rails ABC during Upfront Presentation Thought I'd post this here instead of starting a new topic. Good to see someone at ABC has a sense of humour, because I'm not laughing at any of their comedies.

No, the actual picture from the site is missing.

Stupid picture doesn't work.

I'm gonna throw my hat in the race for the darkhorse, Jazz. The shear complexity of some of the better Jazz just seems to put it on a level beyond the other genres. It's also such an all encompassing genre, ranging from fast to slow, loud to quiet, vocal to instrumental, big band to small arrangment, and that's not even including the infinite number of possible instrument arrangements. So yeah, Jazz, and Bill Evans "Everybody Digs Bill Evans" is the greatest CD ever.

Even if that were true, I'd have a hard time justifying how that's a bad thing. Stone Sour's first album was bad ass. As for this story, if Mike Patton taught us anything, it's that a loud cover of a non loud tune can be cool.

Save your money for Garden State, or, if you'd prefer not to wait two months to see your next movie, Shrek 2.

http://www.ewbattleground.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=122

I'd just like to add Thousand Foot Krutch to the list. It's weird, because while I'm from Canada, I've never heard of this Canadian band, and it seems as though just about no one outside of America does. Doesn't really fit the topic, but it's an interesting twist on the concept.

Wait, doesn't Jay-Z own Roc A Fella? Why would he record an album for someone else and forego all of that potential money? This just makes no sense whatsoever.

Stabbing Westward has two gold albums. They're known in plenty of places. Great Unknown Canadian Artists/Bands: - K-Os - The Trews - Billy Talent - Pilate - Sam Roberts - alexisonfire

No version of Kittie without Fallon Bowman is going to be the same. They dropped her from the band after Spit, and well, if you've heard Oracle you know that they haven't been the same since. Dropping her and then Talena from the lineup did them no favors from a hardcore fan perspective. The Landers sisters seem like the Canadian Gallagher brothers, aside from the sibling infighting.

Gail Berman has to be the best thing to ever happen to FOX. She just took over last year and already FOX is finally beginning to show some loyalty to non-Sunday night shows. She moved "The O.C." to Thursdays, but with the promise that if the show struggles on the night she'll find a less challenging slot for it. Best of all, her delaying 24 until January allows the show to run in 21 back to back weeks (3 of the episodes this season will be two hours long each) without reruns. It should be awesome for the ratings. After this season, and with it's look into next season, FOX is probably the most improved network of all, and Family Guy is just the icing on the cake.

Agreed. Then again, you, me, or anyone else with a brain for that matter doesn't go to television to get unbiased journalism, but instead entertainment. ABC is definitely guilty of a conflict of interest, but then again all of the networks are. I've seen more than a few news outlets jump on board with Michael Moore in order to criticize Disney for dropping Fahrenheit 911, which is obviously an indirect shot at ABC. If there's any consolation, it's that one has a hard time finding anybody who actually watches ABC anyway.

I think the really funny part is that he tried to insult Midget's intelligence in a post riddled with spelling and grammatical errors.

Everything indicates that Disney decided not to release Fahrenheit 911 for fear of losing tax grants from Jeb Bush, not for any support of Bush. In fact, Disney and its subsidiaries have donated more to the Democratic party than the Republican during this current race. If you were in a position to lose tens of millions of dollars in tax incentives I highly doubt you'd release the film either.

Well I wouldn't exactly defend the "good name" of the porn industry. Debating the ethics of pornography aside, they don't have a great history of taking care of their stars. Keep in mind that ABC was also the network that tried to do an episode of Nightline that named all of the victims of the Iraq war with a picture, but were stopped from doing that by an army of Bush supporters.

I dunno, the idea of the Bronson-like emotionless hero Jack Bauer stopping to take in the events of the day and being overwhelmed by them had plenty of shock value for me. It presented an entirely new perspective on the character.

Let me first say that I can't stand Hilary Duff, but I must disagree with you on Cheaper by the Dozen. Her charm made her probably the only thing that didn't annoy the hell out of me about that movie. Haven't seen any of her other movies, although I wouldn't exactly consider myself impressed about this one.

Checking the rest of the forum is always a good tact to take when one is a n00b.

I guarantee you'd change your tune if you heard Avril's Chop Suey. It completely ruined the song for me, I can't even listen to the SOAD song anymore.