What TV series are you currently watching?

[hopefullytrusting]

Ray's parents, mostly.  The episode Misery Loves Company is nearly as perfect an episode of a show as Last Exit to Springfield from The Simpsons, which is the single greatest episode of anything, ever.  The pivotal scene's dialogue is below.  The target audience, especially all these years later, is probably people who want to watch imaginary couples bicker.  If you've been in a relationship long enough, the writing becomes funnier, or it can.

Okay, this is super helpful, and it definitely gives me some insight and a perspective I hadn't really considered. That is a great episode of The Simpsons, and that analogy - I think I can see what you're saying regarding Everybody Loves Raymond.

My longest relationship of the type needed to understand Raymond is, at best, a few months, so I think now plays a larger role than I had previously thought when it comes to understanding the comedy - it also probably explains why a lot of sitcoms don't work for me - I'm seemingly missing a core component of the average/normal human experience, lol.

Thanks a lot for that post.

[Brian]

I need some help. I've been trying to watch Everybody Loves Raymond, but what am I meant to be laughing at? Quite literally everyone on the show seems like the most miserable person in existence, even the kids seem like they are horrible people.

Am I missing something?

It trades on 25-year-old cliches about how married life is miserable, men are idiots, women are crazy, communication is impossible, etc. Very boomer coded. My parents and grandparents loved it but I found it as dour as you do, although I still remember an episode where Mrs. Ray slips socks into her bra to pretend she's gotten implants.

I have not ever seen a real life relationship that looks like the one depicted on the show, but my friends mostly do not have kids so maybe the message of Raymond is that kids ruin everything.

[hopefullytrusting]

It trades on 25-year-old cliches about how married life is miserable, men are idiots, women are crazy, communication is impossible, etc. Very boomer coded. My parents and grandparents loved it but I found it as dour as you do, although I still remember an episode where Mrs. Ray slips socks into her bra to pretend she's gotten implants.

I have not ever seen a real life relationship that looks like the one depicted on the show, but my friends mostly do not have kids so maybe the message of Raymond is that kids ruin everything.

Okay, this makes a lot of sense as well, as I think you and I are similar in age.

Yeah, I can't relate to any of the show, and I don't know if any of my friends have kids, lol - they all have advanced degrees though, so that might be the confounding factor for my group.

The only episode I recall liking was when Raymond was sincerely impressed by Robert when he saw him halt a robbery.

[Todd]

Okay, this is super helpful, and it definitely gives me some insight and a perspective I hadn't really considered.

The point of sitcoms, as I understand it, is to poke fun at more or less mundane life experiences.  (There was a time when sitcoms did occasional serious episodes.  Oof.)  Tastes differ, of course, but for me the best family sitcom remains Married with Children.  Not only does it go for outrageous, vulgar characterizations of family life, but it offers some of the most profound philosophical insights ever aired on the TV.  For instance, Al Bundy once uttered the line: "If I wanted you to know what I was thinking, I'd be talking".  It doesn't get more profound than that.

I have not ever seen a real life relationship that looks like the one depicted on the show

I should hope not, it's a sitcom. 

Kids do ruin everything, except when they provide life experiences that no other experiences come close to matching: being born, taking their first step, saying their first word, laughing so hard they fall over, throwing up on your clean clothes when you are trying to leave for work.

[hopefullytrusting]

The point of sitcoms, as I understand it, is to poke fun at more or less mundane life experiences.  (There was a time when sitcoms did occasional serious episodes.  Oof.)  Tastes differ, of course, but for me the best family sitcom remains Married with Children.  Not only does it go for outrageous, vulgar characterizations of family life, but it offers some of the most profound philosophical insights ever aired on the TV.  For instance, Al Bundy once uttered the line: "If I wanted you to know what I was thinking, I'd be talking".  It doesn't get more profound than that.

I should hope not, it's a sitcom. 

Kids do ruin everything, except when they provide life experiences that no other experiences come close to matching: being born, taking their first step, saying their first word, laughing so hard they fall over, throwing up on your clean clothes when you are trying to leave for work.

I did like Married With Children, for one, it had an excellent treatment of race - being that I am black, it is always nice to see blacks as part of the show without mentioning that they are black - and I loved Al always referring to the glory days - that was a show I could relate to. I don't think I ever found it funny in a sense that wasn't ironic, but I also imagine I was not its target audience, but it did have characters I could relate to - although, those kids were clearly kids of the 1980s, lol.

Yes, I do like those kinds of interactions with children - I used to teach pre-school, and I worked a lot, for a time, with grades K-3, and I will say there are few things better than a baby belly laughing - those are some of my favorite videos on the Contagious Laughter subreddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ContagiousLaughter/comments/1j8n72z/finding_happiness_in_the_most_mundane_moments/

Could watch that all day - I think if anyone watched that and didn't smile - I would think considerably less of them and assume, rightfully, that they are a sociopath.

[Todd]

Yes, I do like those kinds of interactions with children - I used to teach pre-school, and I worked a lot, for a time, with grades K-3, and I will say there are few things better than a baby belly laughing

I can say that I have fond memories of my kids laughing so hard that they vomited (sometimes in projectile fashion) or messed themselves.  It is the intense cuteness that makes cleaning up the aftereffects tolerable.  As a father, I was constantly in search of obtaining just the right level of unrestrained mirth, where they would laugh and laugh and remain clean.  Applying scientific rigor, I did eventually arrive at the proper mirth levels for each kid.

People who do not react positively to young children laughing creep me out.  Fortunately, that has been very rare in my experience.

[hopefullytrusting]

Had the faintest memory of an anime-bible show I used to watch, and apparently there were two: Superbook and The Flying House - couldn't believe there was one, blown mind that there were two, lol.

[drogulus]

     Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was my favorite anti-com. Anti- beats sit- all day long. It was the spiritual progenitor to Twin Peaks.

     

[Todd]

The first season of The Diplomat was a hoot, if OTT.  The second season jumped the shark, with two momentously stupid plot twists.  As such, the third season doesn't and can't recover, and indeed ends up tripling down on the stupid.  Nonetheless, it's entertaining, though as an inadvertent comedy.  The principals do good enough work, and, as with the first two seasons, the viewer is treated to ample screentime for Keri Russell, which is the main attraction. 

[Fëanor]

The first season of The Diplomat was a hoot, if OTT.  The second season jumped the shark, with two momentously stupid plot twists.  As such, the third season doesn't and can't recover, and indeed ends up tripling down on the stupid.  Nonetheless, it's entertaining, though as an inadvertent comedy.  The principals do good enough work, and, as with the first two seasons, the viewer is treated to ample screentime for Keri Russell, which is the main attraction. 

I agree with all of this.  Season 3 is relatively disappointing though still enjoyable. I downgrade my IMDB rating from 9 to 8.

Keri Russell is charming but...uhmm...slight of figure to my taste.

[Brian]

After about three episodes I realized it was a soap opera dressed up as a prestige show. Which, credit where due - people still love soap operas, even if they need prestige veneer to deny it! But I stopped there. Only regret is not seeing more of Chuck McGill as the president.

[Todd]

Prestige TV is gone, at least for now.  We are in, per the Gray Lady, the Golden Age of Mid TV.  The next GoT spinoff will revive prestige TV.

jk

[George]

[hopefullytrusting]

This is so good. Very rarely, I think, does a show get better with each episode - this one does, and I think it did that because it had a clear, distinct ending point - to many shows dawdle on because of success - not this one. One of the greatest shows ever, easily a top 5 show for me, maybe even a top 3.

[George]

This is so good. Very rarely, I think, does a show get better with each episode - this one does, and I think it did that because it had a clear, distinct ending point - to many shows dawdle on because of success - not this one. One of the greatest shows ever, easily a top 5 show for me, maybe even a top 3.

I am watching this for the second time and this time I am enjoying it more. Incredibly dark, funny and ruthless.

I feel lucky to be alive in a time where so many great shows like this are being created. I just finished The Leftovers and was blown away by that one. Other favorites include Mr. Inbetween, The Morning Show, Justified, Better Call Saul, Fleabag, Sopranos, Preacher and Bojack Horseman. 

[SimonNZ]

[hopefullytrusting]

I am watching this for the second time and this time I am enjoying it more. Incredibly dark, funny and ruthless.

I feel lucky to be alive in a time where so many great shows like this are being created. I just finished The Leftovers and was blown away by that one. Other favorites include Mr. Inbetween, The Morning Show, Justified, Better Call Saul, Fleabag, Sopranos, Preacher and Bojack Horseman. 

I think my favorite scene is still when Tom eats Logan's chicken, lol.

Yeah, and The Sopranos, I think, really was the spark of it all.

For me, it was The Corner that really showed me the power of tv - The Corner was part of the Simon-verse of Homicide and The Wire, but The Corner is easily, in my opinion, the best of them - incredibly gritty and realistic and horrendously depressing.

Some of my other favorites are Deadwood, Carnivale, Once and Again, Judging Amy, The Librarians, The Wire - which is as close to Homer as we have gotten on tv - The Life & Times of Tim, lol - just noticed how dominant HBO is for me.

[George]

I think my favorite scene is still when Tom eats Logan's chicken, lol.

Yeah, and The Sopranos, I think, really was the spark of it all.

For me, it was The Corner that really showed me the power of tv - The Corner was part of the Simon-verse of Homicide and The Wire, but The Corner is easily, in my opinion, the best of them - incredibly gritty and realistic and horrendously depressing.

Some of my other favorites are Deadwood, Carnivale, Once and Again, Judging Amy, The Librarians, The Wire - which is as close to Homer as we have gotten on tv - The Life & Times of Tim, lol - just noticed how dominant HBO is for me.

I will look for the Corner.

Did you see We Own This City? I saw that this year. Same creators as The Wire, also takes place in Baltimore. It's about police corruption. And on HBO.

Thing with Sopranos for me is how incredibly funny it is. That really surprised me.

[hopefullytrusting]

I will look for the Corner.

Did you see We Own This City? I saw that this year. Same creators as The Wire, also takes place in Baltimore. It's about police corruption. And on HBO.

Thing with Sopranos for me is how incredibly funny it is. That really surprised me.

If you like Simon, you'll love The Corner - I think it is him at his purest.

I've not, but I will now - I already love the cast, lol - for me, that it the power of acting - I've very intrigued to see Marlo, maybe the most sociopathic human put to screen - play a cop. My only worry is that it stars Jon Bernthal, who just irritates me for some reason, but I can overlook that, especially, in skimming, he might be playing the role of the person we are supposed to dislike - if that is the case, I'm already on board, lol.

The Sopranos, for me, is a bit of a different experience, as I am black, and watching that show while black definitely shows the show in a different light. The reason I liked The Sopranos so much is that no one was good - no not one, and they didn't try to redeem anybody or anyone - I value that kind of honesty a lot. I was worried they might try to do that with Chris, but notion was quickly nixed, thankfully.

[George]

If you like Simon, you'll love The Corner - I think it is him at his purest.

I've not, but I will now - I already love the cast, lol - for me, that it the power of acting - I've very intrigued to see Marlo, maybe the most sociopathic human put to screen - play a cop. My only worry is that it stars Jon Bernthal, who just irritates me for some reason, but I can overlook that, especially, in skimming, he might be playing the role of the person we are supposed to dislike - if that is the case, I'm already on board, lol.

Jon's character is meant to be more than disliked, so you're good there. 

And for more (guy who plays Marlo) as a cop, check out Bosch, another great show. He's even more different than Marlo in that show. A versatile actor for sure.