is the golden era of TV over?

[PITBOSS]

I think you might be onto something with this thread, a lot of mediocre stuff on these days.

I was real disappointed when the sopranos ended, breaking bad was pretty epic though.

Sons of anarchy and boardwalk empire are pretty decent shows that are on these days.

I don't think the golden age has ended because those shows are over, but tv has definitely changed with all this on demand and dvr and downloading stuff.

[Lithium]

I am not even aware that there has been a, golden age. If I had to select an age it would be the 70s or the 80s.

Yes. Why watch Breaking Bad or The Sopranos when you have The Little House on the Prairie and Knight Rider?

[wasted]

Street Hawk. I mean this show could shatter any theoretical certainty.

I just think as fun as the ATeam was some of the stuff on now is actually very good.

Twin Peaks was a show I took more serious.

[Rovim]

Street Hawk. I mean this show could shatter any theoretical certainty.

I just think as fun as the ATeam was some of the stuff on now is actually very good.

Twin Peaks was a show I took more serious.

Loved Twin Peaks. U gonna watch Better Call Saul? I hope it won't suck. Vince said he's worried lol.

But let me shove some Deadwood down your throat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF8aIa3QOkU

[dalsh327]

The actual golden age of TV was in the 50s and 60s.

I think Sex and the City and Sopranos opened up a new format to viewers that they're still figuring out how far to take it. The thing is, a TV series might start off with a shoestring budget, so they have to work with what they've got, and over time, get to play with more toys, blow shit up and make it look more "epic". A show like GOT was pretty ambitious but when you take into account Lord of the Rings was 15 years ago and technology becomes cheaper and bigger, the GOT crew probably sees Peter Jackson's equipment as antiquated crap, or even Harry Potter.

A lot of people who work on films also work in TV because there's really no difference in what they're working with behind the scenes. Comedies have changed - a show like Modern Family (or Louie) has no studio audience, but that comedy format goes back to The Larry Sanders Show.

The point is there's no real "era" but an evolution going on. You'll have a ton of forgettable shows but still have a handful of memorable ones that will hold up. And that comes down to the writing and actors being able to deliver. The 80s seemed like TV became repressive and a war against censorship was being waged in entertainment. Writing campaigns to ban shows, PMRC, religious right groups. Sitcoms were turned on its ear by Married with Children and Roseanne. Cartoons not just for kids - The Simpsons, which opened a huge door to Ren and Stimpy, Beavis and Butthead, and South Park and Family Guy. No one thought animated shows in prime time would become successful, but the funny thing is, Showtime and HBO have no animated series.

[wasted]

I just don't think we've seen shows as good as Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Mad Men before. They aren't really TV shows. It's like one giant movie. It's been able to grow. I haven't been watching The Strain but seeing one ep it's pretty lavish. By season 3 it wil be a piece of work. Fargo or True Detective compete with any movie in there genres.

I did watch season 1 of Dead Wood. It was good if a bit slow. There's just so many shows. I haven't got round to Boaedwalk Empire. I watch quite a lot of crap really but I just wonder what people thought about this purple patch. Maybe 30 Something was awesome in the 90s I don't know. Sopranos just appealed on a different level.

[Forsaken]

Hope is still alive with shows like Game of Thrones, True Detective, Fargo, American Horror Story(last season was fucking terrible though), and even now The Leftovers which people seem to have mixed feelings about. I still want something to fill the void that Breaking Bad left though. It's going to be hard to top but eventually something else will come along. My only fear with True Detective is it not living up to the greatness that was the first season, well, prior to the finale which sucked IMO. Wasted and I were looked for complete swerves and not the obvious "Lawnmower man" killer. The last two episodes of that season felt watered down and almost like a completely different show.

I do have high hopes for Fargo though, I don't see it changing much except for the casting. I still miss Deadwood though, damn, that show was epic along side Six Feet Under. HBO had three hard hitters around the same time with that, Deadwood and The Sopranos. I think that may have been the "Golden Age" as far as HBO shows go.

[Lithium]

I would love to see another show like Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

[arnold layne]

Nah.

[PITBOSS]

better call saul is coming, hopefully it's great

[Forsaken]

better call saul is coming, hopefully it's great

Looking forward to it as well, I hear Cranston may make a few guest appearances as well as Aaron Paul.

[DieselDaisy]

Sopranos is often cited as the best tv show ever. Then a lot of shows have followed just as good, maybe better. There hasn't been an era with as many high calibre shows. In some cases they are better than what movies are coming out.

Bollocks.

Only Fools and Horses peaked in the 80s.

[wasted]

Sopranos is often cited as the best tv show ever. Then a lot of shows have followed just as good, maybe better. There hasn't been an era with as many high calibre shows. In some cases they are better than what movies are coming out.

Bollocks.

Only Fools and Horses peaked in the 80s.

I don't see how it's bollocks.

Sit coms have been pretty steady.

But dramatic television is bursting. We've got 5,6,7 shows here people rate, I'm not sure there was anything comparable to Breaking Bad in the 80s?

[***Flawless]

There is no golden era of TV, only a romanticised era for a certain amount of people. Just because you're unable to enjoy a show, doesn't mean it's not worth anything.

It's the same as any time, there's good shows and there's bad shows. It's up to you to find the ones you like.

Also, Friends being a golden era of TV? lol

Edited September 14, 2014 by ***Flawless

[wasted]

I guess you have to be a little objective to say something like that. There's just so many high quality shows. Halt and Catch Fire, Manhattan, that Sex show, they are't AList shows but they seem pretty good. There's nothing in the 80s I really know of I want to watch. Or the 70s. There's the odd sit com or Magnum PI. It just seems broader and deeper. If you bring in subjective taste nothing really exists. You like these shows in the 50s and no one cares and then we die. There's always another level of meaninglessness. There's work, the rest is propaganda. So why have TV shows anyway? You can't have an era if time doesn't exist. But HD is real because they told me. The quality of the picture of the shows that don't matter is important. Unless HD matters there will be anarchy in the streets.

[dalsh327]

better call saul is coming, hopefully it's great

He could easily get star power on that show, but I think it might disappoint BB fans because it's a whole other show, and I'm not watching it as a Breaking Bad fan. I'd probably watch some Mr Show episodes to see what he had been known for before Saul.

[Carburetta]

No love for Oz? That was HBOs groundbreaking show.

[Georgy Zhukov]

I would love to see another show like Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

I heard a rumor they will produce a series on a unit in the US 8th Army Air Force.

I will miss Boardwalk Empire when it ends.

[Forsaken]

No love for Oz? That was HBOs groundbreaking show.

Not sure how I forgot this one alongside The Wire. HBO has tons of gems.

[Sixes]

No love for Oz? That was HBOs groundbreaking show.

Not sure how I forgot this one alongside The Wire. HBO has tons of gems.

Curb Your Enthusiasm. One of the most influential shows of the past 15 years. Not often mentioned with the dramas, but should be.

[Forsaken]

Another one!!! Larry David is a genius.

[Nulla Lex Ink.]

No love for Oz? That was HBOs groundbreaking show.

Hah! Was waiting for someone to say it! A lot of people credit The Sopranos for the beginnings of the golden age, but that's really the show that started it, or it at least laid the foundations, or from what I can see and read it did. Sure, the ending sucked, but it's a quality show for the most part.

[wasted]

Twin Peaks was the first show I made a date with every week or tried to record it. That was my first experience with a show that was like a movie in tone. Maybe there was some Dickens adaptation like Oliver Twist that was a mini series. But I held movies in higher regard. Now I'd probably chose The Wire over Wolf of Wall Street.

[Carburetta]

No love for Oz? That was HBOs groundbreaking show.

Hah! Was waiting for someone to say it! A lot of people credit The Sopranos for the beginnings of the golden age, but that's really the show that started it, or it at least laid the foundations, or from what I can see and read it did. Sure, the ending sucked, but it's a quality show for the most part.

It got pretty silly late on, but for the most part, that show's a heavyweight.