About twenty-five years ago, there were still three networks, PBS, and a few cable channels relying on syndicated shows, i.e. “reruns.”
At that time, there were about six thousand members of the West coast screenwriters guild. By the estimation of most observers, about ten percent of them were competent scriptwriters.
COMPETENT.
Half of those were actually GOOD ENOUGH to create a bang-up script.
As networks and cable channels proliferated, talent did not grow at the same exponential rate. Which means roughly the same number of writers belong to the guild, creating all the TV and movies we see. Television has become a far larger wasteland with less talent per channel.
This not only explains why shows suck, but why so many shows are “reality” shows that need little scripting.
The problem was not the writers – it was the programming execs, blessed with a captive market, who were permanently underbidding each other on the intelligence of the public. Nothing got greenlighted that wouldn’t appeal to nine year-olds, even if that meant serving reheated, recycled cheese for the nine thousandth time.
Thus, hero getting attacked by old lady’s parrot make the cut. Original.
(Critics may note that to avoid any hint that the mustachioed hard-body in the flowered shirt was in anyway a subversive gay icon, the hero fires his very manly gun.)
Now that TV has to compete with playstations and the internets for audiences, programming execs have gotten more liberal with the green, and TV shows have actually gotten a lot better. The writing in today’s shows is about a million times better than this – compare Magnum PI to “The Wire.”
I don’t know. Actually, I thought it was awesome…in a totally cheesy 80′s way that was certainly not the way the producers intended.
Re. the screenwriters comment above, the role of the screenwriter is strictly subordinate to the Lead Producer, aka “show runner” who is responsible for the overall story arc of the show, and the individual episodes.
If the episode sucks, there’s plenty of blame to go around, even though only one guy or gal’s name goes in the credits as writer.
A lot more of tv sucks, and a lot more of tv is better than it ever was. Because there’s a lot more tv, you see. The first comment above re the Guild is wrong; its membership has steadily grown, as has the absolute number of good writers.
Cf. not only The Wire, but Sopranos, The Shield, Seinfeld, House, Law & Order, Law & Order Extra Crispy, Law & Order NT, Law & Order for Kids!, Law & Order Lite, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, True Blood, Big Love, etc., etc.
It’s about the same, except bigger, louder, and of course, in color. I believe that Lost will stand the test of time. Plus, no one would have ever put Reaper on in 1965.
Definitely Lost. X-Files was pretty good for a while too. And a good chunk of the HBO/Showtime stuff has been pretty solid (Deadwood, Carnivale, Wire, Rome, etc)
HBO is awesome, True Blood is a good show,(Sookie indeed), Southbound and down, Rome, Curb your enthusiasm, Extras, The Wire, etc, etc. I even liked Tell me you love me. Not crazy about the Gabriel Bryne show, kind of boring. Too many episodes.
Frontline is great on PBS. I like the BBC some. I’ll watch MTV as background. I like Adult Swim, Lost is OK, Battle Star was killer, MadMen is killer, Breaking Bad is great, AMC has been doing good things lately. I’m pretty happy with TV so long as it’s HD and there exists TIVO, I don’t have too much to complain about. I’m not crazy about many network shows. I’m bored with cop drama, medical drama, lawyer drama, after “The Wire” and Sopranos I cannot go backwards.
The New school Comic book shows like Batman the brave and the bold, Wolverine and the X-Men, and The Spectacular Spiderman are Waaaaaaay better then any toons we had back in the day. Amazing shows, especially in HD when available. Great writing.
Do the networks still show sitcoms? I stopped watching network TV when they took ALF off the air.
It was a small personal protest. But dammit, it was MY personal protest!!!
I watched the spy shows like U.N.C.L.E., Secret Agent, Wild, Wild, West, you know the ones. I watched the first 2 seasons of N3MBERS, Criminal Minds and CSI New York. Now I watch NCIS reruns and the news.
I’ve been cable-free for over seven months now. [applause...] Thank you. Whenever the jones gets to me, I take care of it with the complete Deadwood DVD set. Then I think about the extra $90/month in my pocket. I watch all the propaganda I need (Olbermann) on the web — with only a 1:30 delay. And Netflix helps fill the void in a very cost-effective manner.
This summer I’ve been tempted to backslide, but then I think about shit like this:
Um, what? Tv in America used to totally suck, and almost entirely was for morons — certainly this goes for 99% of what was on the air when I was a kid in the Sixties — but in this century it’s produced some of the greatest cinematic drama ever produced in the history of humankind: The Wire, Deadwood, Rome, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Extras, and so on.
You’re right, TV does suck compared to what it was before, but my only caveat is that this sentiment applies only to cartoons. I think live-action shows have gotten much better than before.
There’s actually quite a bit of “good” tv these days. Besides the great HBO and Showtime shows mentioned I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out Burn Notice. Not only does it have Bruce Campbell but it really captures the campy feel of the great 80′s shows like Magnum and A-Team. Check it out, definitely worth your time.
I agree for the most part, tv is mostly garbage due to the overflowing number of reality tv and both cartoon network and Nickelodeon going down yhe toilet in recent years.
July 13, 2009 at 8:22 pm
The answer, as always, is “yes.”
See also.
July 13, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Here’s what happened to TV:
About twenty-five years ago, there were still three networks, PBS, and a few cable channels relying on syndicated shows, i.e. “reruns.”
At that time, there were about six thousand members of the West coast screenwriters guild. By the estimation of most observers, about ten percent of them were competent scriptwriters.
COMPETENT.
Half of those were actually GOOD ENOUGH to create a bang-up script.
As networks and cable channels proliferated, talent did not grow at the same exponential rate. Which means roughly the same number of writers belong to the guild, creating all the TV and movies we see. Television has become a far larger wasteland with less talent per channel.
This not only explains why shows suck, but why so many shows are “reality” shows that need little scripting.
July 13, 2009 at 8:41 pm
This is an deeply insightful comment, if you replace “screenwriters” with “helicopters”.
July 17, 2009 at 2:06 pm
There’s a helicopters guild?!!
July 18, 2009 at 12:09 pm
True enough, but if you replace “screenwriters” with “submarines” it all falls apart.
July 14, 2009 at 12:16 am
The problem was not the writers – it was the programming execs, blessed with a captive market, who were permanently underbidding each other on the intelligence of the public. Nothing got greenlighted that wouldn’t appeal to nine year-olds, even if that meant serving reheated, recycled cheese for the nine thousandth time.
Thus, hero getting attacked by old lady’s parrot make the cut. Original.
(Critics may note that to avoid any hint that the mustachioed hard-body in the flowered shirt was in anyway a subversive gay icon, the hero fires his very manly gun.)
Now that TV has to compete with playstations and the internets for audiences, programming execs have gotten more liberal with the green, and TV shows have actually gotten a lot better. The writing in today’s shows is about a million times better than this – compare Magnum PI to “The Wire.”
July 13, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Once this aired, there was nowhere left for creativity to go:
July 14, 2009 at 3:58 am
“directed by david lynch”
July 14, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Indeed. It would have been perfect in Twin Peaks.
July 15, 2009 at 12:30 am
is that shack made of giant strips of bacon?
July 15, 2009 at 8:34 am
People still do that stuff, but now it’s called “human beatbox”. Let’s revive the original under the name HARD CORnpone and see if it catches on.
July 15, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I have a few dozen eefin’ tunes, but this is the only one I can find on youtube.
July 13, 2009 at 8:56 pm
How did you find a clip where Magnum is wearing pants? The whole point of that show was his bare legs!
July 13, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Fiction as reality TV:
Reality TV as fiction:
This is TV on drugs:
July 14, 2009 at 7:03 am
classy!
July 13, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I don’t know. Actually, I thought it was awesome…in a totally cheesy 80′s way that was certainly not the way the producers intended.
Re. the screenwriters comment above, the role of the screenwriter is strictly subordinate to the Lead Producer, aka “show runner” who is responsible for the overall story arc of the show, and the individual episodes.
If the episode sucks, there’s plenty of blame to go around, even though only one guy or gal’s name goes in the credits as writer.
July 14, 2009 at 2:32 am
The only way that scene could have been improved is if Magnum pistolwhipped the old lady.
July 14, 2009 at 7:17 am
The actress in her finest role:
July 14, 2009 at 7:44 am
“Everything is just great!”
– BJ, BJ and the Bear
July 14, 2009 at 7:45 am
I never realized Thomas Magnum was such a complete pussy.
July 14, 2009 at 8:05 am
Swisher Sweet.
July 14, 2009 at 8:45 am
Of course TV was better in the ’80s, as we could see a great actress like Sylvia Sidney in wretchedness like Magnum…
July 14, 2009 at 8:51 am
A lot more of tv sucks, and a lot more of tv is better than it ever was. Because there’s a lot more tv, you see. The first comment above re the Guild is wrong; its membership has steadily grown, as has the absolute number of good writers.
Cf. not only The Wire, but Sopranos, The Shield, Seinfeld, House, Law & Order, Law & Order Extra Crispy, Law & Order NT, Law & Order for Kids!, Law & Order Lite, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, True Blood, Big Love, etc., etc.
July 14, 2009 at 1:00 pm
And vis-a-vis the 70s and 80s, the cocaine per episode ratio is probably a lot smaller now.
July 14, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Known in narrower nostril circles as the CPE. You, I see, are one of them savvy insiders.
July 14, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Let’s just say I knew a guy who knew a guy.
July 14, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I think the size of competent Law and Order writers has remained stable.
July 14, 2009 at 11:40 am
It’s about the same, except bigger, louder, and of course, in color. I believe that Lost will stand the test of time. Plus, no one would have ever put Reaper on in 1965.
July 14, 2009 at 11:52 am
Definitely Lost. X-Files was pretty good for a while too. And a good chunk of the HBO/Showtime stuff has been pretty solid (Deadwood, Carnivale, Wire, Rome, etc)
July 14, 2009 at 1:33 pm
HBO is awesome, True Blood is a good show,(Sookie indeed), Southbound and down, Rome, Curb your enthusiasm, Extras, The Wire, etc, etc. I even liked Tell me you love me. Not crazy about the Gabriel Bryne show, kind of boring. Too many episodes.
Frontline is great on PBS. I like the BBC some. I’ll watch MTV as background. I like Adult Swim, Lost is OK, Battle Star was killer, MadMen is killer, Breaking Bad is great, AMC has been doing good things lately. I’m pretty happy with TV so long as it’s HD and there exists TIVO, I don’t have too much to complain about. I’m not crazy about many network shows. I’m bored with cop drama, medical drama, lawyer drama, after “The Wire” and Sopranos I cannot go backwards.
The New school Comic book shows like Batman the brave and the bold, Wolverine and the X-Men, and The Spectacular Spiderman are Waaaaaaay better then any toons we had back in the day. Amazing shows, especially in HD when available. Great writing.
These guys do a good review job,
http://tv.ign.com/index/reviews.html
I watch bad reality shows, they amuse me to no end.
July 14, 2009 at 11:42 am
Rockford would totally kick Magnum’s ass.
July 14, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Do the networks still show sitcoms? I stopped watching network TV when they took ALF off the air.
It was a small personal protest. But dammit, it was MY personal protest!!!
July 14, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I hear you. But for me it was soaps and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
July 14, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I watched the spy shows like U.N.C.L.E., Secret Agent, Wild, Wild, West, you know the ones. I watched the first 2 seasons of N3MBERS, Criminal Minds and CSI New York. Now I watch NCIS reruns and the news.
Magnum had a great body and zero sexual charisma.
July 14, 2009 at 3:04 pm
TV is best when you do strong psychedelics and watch it without turning it on.
Ghostwriters in the sky above the craanial jack was the color of television tuned to a dead channel…
July 14, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I’ve been cable-free for over seven months now. [applause...] Thank you. Whenever the jones gets to me, I take care of it with the complete Deadwood DVD set. Then I think about the extra $90/month in my pocket. I watch all the propaganda I need (Olbermann) on the web — with only a 1:30 delay. And Netflix helps fill the void in a very cost-effective manner.
This summer I’ve been tempted to backslide, but then I think about shit like this:
July 14, 2009 at 4:29 pm
That was supposed to go the video here:
/tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=2949806&ref=fpblg
July 14, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Shit. Make that
http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=2949806&ref=fpblg
July 14, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Y’know, the parrot scene was awesome but you had to wait an hour to see it.
July 14, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Um, what? Tv in America used to totally suck, and almost entirely was for morons — certainly this goes for 99% of what was on the air when I was a kid in the Sixties — but in this century it’s produced some of the greatest cinematic drama ever produced in the history of humankind: The Wire, Deadwood, Rome, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Extras, and so on.
So: wtf?
July 14, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Merlin, attack!
July 14, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Pretty much this. Television has gotten better while film has gotten worse.
July 15, 2009 at 3:25 am
TV sucks now. TV used to suck. It’s TV, people!
July 15, 2009 at 7:50 am
TV’s been downhill ever since Count Floyd got that Ingmar Bergman by mistake and tried to pass it off as a horror movie.
July 15, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I think the Idiot Boy from Deliverance makes a good point!
July 15, 2009 at 1:28 pm
and the portal opened onto a strange 2-d vision from an Incoacainian talk show.
July 20, 2009 at 4:14 pm
You’re right, TV does suck compared to what it was before, but my only caveat is that this sentiment applies only to cartoons. I think live-action shows have gotten much better than before.
July 24, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Adult Swim on Cartoon Network saved television. Sealab 2021, Squidbillies, ATHF, Harvey Birdman, Venture Brothers, Moral Orel…even Robot Chicken.
July 27, 2009 at 4:15 pm
There’s actually quite a bit of “good” tv these days. Besides the great HBO and Showtime shows mentioned I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out Burn Notice. Not only does it have Bruce Campbell but it really captures the campy feel of the great 80′s shows like Magnum and A-Team. Check it out, definitely worth your time.
August 1, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I agree for the most part, tv is mostly garbage due to the overflowing number of reality tv and both cartoon network and Nickelodeon going down yhe toilet in recent years.