CSI TV series: Entertaining or Laughable?

[Andy M.]

I work in a library. That's enough to worry me about the general public making important decisions like that.

If not the people who pay the bills, who?

 

[rozz]

If not the people who pay the bills, who?

Casting agents keep serving up actors based on their abs, and not their acting chops. The public is not actually given a fair shot to use their money as their vote. They're not likely to stop going to the movies, so their keep reinforcing the idea that looks are the most important attribute an actor may possess.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

The public votes by whatever they watch. Nielsen's and other rating services measure audience size. Advertising charges are based upon the ratings. The TV program producers do whatever they can to get high ratings so they can get high revenue. The way it ends up is that the lowest common denominator in the public gets to pick what the shows are like. That would probably be children, teens and young adults. They probably would rather look at pretty faces than have mentally stimulating programs. I doubt if much of the public cares if anything is realistic. I doubt if much of the public has any real comprehension of scientific or other reality (such as police and crime lab procedure).

 

[Andy M.]

Casting agents keep serving up actors based on their abs, and not their acting chops. The public is not actually given a fair shot to use their money as their vote. They're not likely to stop going to the movies, so their keep reinforcing the idea that looks are the most important attribute an actor may possess.

Casting agents respond to specific requests from producers. If a producer asks for a middle-aged man with ordinary features and the agent sends them a twenty YO stud, they won't be in business long.

If you're middle aged or older, you are no longer the target audience because marketing studies prove you don't spend as much as the 18-35 age group.

I would be perfectly happy watching shows and movies that don't include special effects and supernatural creatures but my opinion doesn't count.

 

[buckytom]

you guys would be amazed at how nielsen and other ratings services work from a technological point if view.

hey, maybe they can do a show about me getting to the bottom of bad shows getting good ratings. television ratings investigator: nyc.

i think brad pitt and tom cruise are too short to play me. maybe kurt russel, if he makes a comeback. i kinda looked like him 20 years ago...

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

If you're middle aged or older, you are no longer the target audience because marketing studies prove you don't spend as much as the 18-35 age group.

I think that has a lot to do with my dissatisfaction with today's television drama/comedy programming, that I'm not in the age group the shows are targeted at.

I'm glad age has nothing to do with TV cooking shows.

 

[Zhizara]

I gave up situation comedies many years ago. I just don't relate at all.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I can't watch any of this stuff. Can't watch the comedies, can't watch the dramas. I'm down to news (and not much of that because it's so depressing), cooking programs, documentaries... Too bad I'm not a sports fan, there's lots of that. (I can understand why some like sports and one thing that's really great about sports is that it appeals to sports fans of all ages.)

I mostly read in the evenings due to lack of anything interesting on the tube. I hope to get cable/satellite one day soon where hopefully the wider range of shows will have more that appeal to me.

 

[buckytom]

lol, greg. don't hold your breath.

actually, there will be a lot more shows for you to have a strong, verbose opiniin about that you don't watch.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I'm looking forward mostly to cooking, science, history channels and similar. I don't have to watch the comedies and dramas if they don't appeal to me. I think I'd rather rent movies via Netflix than get premium channels.

I'm sorry if I've insulted anybody's favorite TV programs. This topic has been more interesting than most TV dramas and comedies. (Oops, I did it again. )

 

[PrincessFiona60]

you guys would be amazed at how nielsen and other ratings services work from a technological point if view.

hey, maybe they can do a show about me getting to the bottom of bad shows getting good ratings. television ratings investigator: nyc.

i think brad pitt and tom cruise are too short to play me. maybe kurt russel, if he makes a comeback. i kinda looked like him 20 years ago...

Cool...

 

[Barbara L]

...i think brad pitt and tom cruise are too short to play me. maybe kurt russel, if he makes a comeback. i kinda looked like him 20 years ago...

Nope. You are better looking than him any day of the week (and I think he's good looking!). You've got those killer eyes! And I'm not talking about your Homer avatar!

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I'll always think of BT as "Homey." I know few people who have chosen such appropriate avatars.

 

[taxlady]

I do believe in the suspension of disbelief long enough to watch a show for the entertainment value. But, there are some shows where the characters are so odious that it is difficult to suspend disbelief and enjoy the show.

Personally, I'm enjoying the 136th Westminster Dog Show...now THAT is entertainment.

Yup, broke my disbelief suspenders a while ago (for most television). I can still find a pair or two for a good SF novel.

 

[buckytom]

lol, geez, thanks barbara. does snake pliskin blush?


unfortunately, greg, i truely look more like homer nowadays.

 

[Zhizara]

One thought occurs to me about the computers and other sci-fi equipment is that so many things that can be imagined can be done.

Think - two way wrist radio that Dick Tracy used. Now phones with computer ability in a credit card size package, and the hands free blue tooth.

What man can imagine, can and has often been done. I don't think they are all that far fetched.

Many things that I have wished they would make have become everyday household items in my lifetime.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Where are our air cars?

 

[Zhizara]

Think Cessna.

I think technology will catch up with fiction, look at the touch screen technology already available.

The internet and credit/debit cards were sci-fi not all that long ago.

Except for things like time travel, and faster than light travel...

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I do think Cessna. I'm an amateur pilot and I trained in Cessnas (and Pipers). I shudder to think of typical citizens like I see on the streets and highways operating aircraft. If they ever have flying cars then I hope to God that the flight controls are totally sealed and inaccessible to the occupants of the aircraft except for selection of a destination. Nothing can go wrong, can go wrong, can go wrong...

At least in US the government seems to be pushing us into mass transit. We already have airborne mass transit, the airlines. I doubt personal aircraft will ever be practical for the masses, or at least not for many many decades or even centuries.

One good thing about my prediction is that I won't be here to be proven wrong!


I'm even skeptical about self driving conventional cars, at least not for a few more decades. It is possible in theory of course but I think we are further away from that than most people believe. Even if it's simply for economical reasons, the added cost to equip vehicles with the package. Also I wonder about the practicality of having automated driving unless all cars on the road are automated. It seems to me that a mix of automated cars and the drivers I currently see on streets and highways would be a disaster begging to happen.

 

[buckytom]

you just described florida, greg.

a mix of crazy drivers and old folks going slow snd steady, oblivious to everyone else, with their turn signal on for miles...