What ever happened to TV shows these days?

[The Dark One™]

Comedy shows aren't very funny, same with cartoons. MTV and G4 went from everything that made them awesome to reality shows.

Have people just ran out of ideas or something? There are a few exceptions to this. A rare few shows like Jimmy Neutron, Drake and Josh, and some others are still funny and good, but many others are have just fallen back to stupid.

The earlier episodes of Spongebob were good, but now it's just dumb. They even have adult jokes that little kids wouldn't understand.

I remember shows like Freakazoid and Reboot, and the times when bands fought for #1 spots on TRL.

Any other views on this? I feel old.

[Bonkava!]

*cough* shows I deliberately watch:

Psych (This show is freaking awesome)
Monk (Less so than Psych but still awesome)
In Plain Sight (Not really that great, but still a good option for a laugh or so)
House (Awesome.)
My Name is Earl (... Yeah, it's funny)
The Bill Engvall Show (The first couple episodes weren't that great but they've gotten better)

And some shows that I watch that haven't been on in seven months:
Pushing Daisies
Chuck

And a show I'm probably going to start watching:
Burn Notice

Meh, if you look in the right places, television is still pretty good.

[HUGE 2 tha DORK]

*cough* shows I deliberately watch:

Psych (This show is freaking awesome)
Monk (Less so than Psych but still awesome)
In Plain Sight (Not really that great, but still a good option for a laugh or so)
House (Awesome.)
My Name is Earl (... Yeah, it's funny)
The Bill Engvall Show (The first couple episodes weren't that great but they've gotten better)

And some shows that I watch that haven't been on in seven months:
Pushing Daisies
Chuck

And a show I'm probably going to start watching:
Burn Notice

Meh, if you look in the right places, television is still pretty good.

USA Network fan, huh?

[Bonkava!]

Yea. :-P

[Mr. Teatime]

Channels like HBO and Showtime have some great original shows, but, of course, you have to pay for those channels. I really just don't think regular network television has the budget to churn out really brilliant TV shows.

[Alexisonfire]

TV may in fact be getting worse, but I think I'll attribute my lack of interest in shows to never sitting in front of a television unless a console is turned on. The only comedies I'll watch are the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, and the Rick Mercer report, all of them pretty much the same concept of humour. As for dramas, there's really only Dexter, House, and the odd episode of CSI: Miami.

As for the sorry state of cartoons, yes, it seems people have run out of ideas. At least good ones. I'm sure we've all had that discussion of "Cartoons were way better when we were kids." And I believe that to be that cartoons are under such a large magnifying glass these days. Parents complain too much about what they watch and the networks censor way too much, so that making an engaging story is near impossible. Look at Avatar, probably the only cartoon I'll still watch today. The writers aren't allowed to use the word "kill", or "death" or any of those realities of life. One of the characters in the show no one really knew if he/she died until the creator said he/she did. That is because they weren't allowed to show any details of the killing blow, how they died, or even when they died.

Compare this back to the Transformers series. Sure, a little farfetched comparison, but bare with me. In the movie, nearly the entire cast of the first season was killed off in a matter of minutes, including Optimus Prime himself. And there was foul language in the movie too. And this was aimed at a younger audience than avatar is. Did parents care? Not really. Though, I think maybe they should have about how racist the show got from time to time. I'm not gonna stand up for that. 

Other than that, I'll watch the occasional episode of the Simpsons, Futurama, South Park, Spongebob, and Arrested Development, but those are shows that are ended and/or I only watch the earlier episodes of them. But that's really the extent of my television watching.

[Revan/anakinjmt]

I'd love to be able to blame the writer's strike, but I can't.

The only cartoons that I even bother to watch that are made nowadays are the comic ones. This would mean The Batman, Spectacular Spider-Man, and whatever Marvel's next project is. Those are still good. The others I don't bother with. And I haven't watched Legion of Superheroes yet. I'm still trying to start watching Teen Titans.

Prime-time stuff is still very promising though. LOST, 24, The Office, Heroes, and Smallville are the shows I make absolutely sure to watch. I also enjoy Grey's Anatomy because of the good mix of dramatic action and witty humor which I tend to love, the spin-off Private Practice, and the only reality shows worth watching: Survivor, which China was awesome and Fans vs. Favorites the best season ever, even above Australia, and Amazing Race.

[Deputy Laser Action]

You know The Batman is over, right?

[FreeViarga3524]

Arrested Development was cancelled.

/Thread

[Mr. Teatime]

Arrested Development was cancelled.

/Thread

Though they're hoping really hard for a movie!

[Revan/anakinjmt]

You know The Batman is over, right?

Yes, unfortunately. I have the first four seasons on DVD, but I missed the fifth season when it aired for the most part (I caught part of the two-parter with Superman and I saw the episode with the Flash), so I'm waiting for that to come out on DVD. I think they could have gone one more season though, as they never introduced Two-Face or Scarecrow. I get that they're from the movies, but Two-Face if anything won't appear until the end of the film, and Joker's the main baddie in this one and they still used him. I thought they would have been smart introducing Dent in the first season and then making him Two-Face in the fourth season.

[stinkoman k]

Though they're hoping really hard for a movie!

I heard that they were working on it during the writer's Strike!

Plus, look at the clues!

Tony Hale was in RV with Will Arnett. Will Arnett was in Horton Hears a Who! with Seth Rogen. Also lending their voice to the movie was Amy Poehler, who is married to Arnett and played GOB's wife. They are expecting a child together. Seth Rogen was in Superbad with Michael Cera who was just recently a child, just like the one that Arnett and Poehler are expecting! Cera was in Juno with Jason Bateman, and were never in the same scene together. Bateman recently starred in Will Smith Strikes Again whatever with Charlize Theron. She did not, however, have a british accent. David Cross had an appearence in Men in Black, or MIIB; Wikipedia can not make up its mind. Either way, Will Smith was in there with him. Yes, the plans  for this movie go back to '97 (or maybe '02). Tim Blanely played the voice of the tabloid-selling Frank the Pug in those movies, but also had roles in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) AND The Spongebob Squarepants Movie! Doesn't sound like much? What if I told you that Jeffery Tambor was in both of those movies? Hmm?! But there was one more movie he was in... a little production called Dr. Dolittle, also featuring the voice of Ellen DeGeneres, who is currently engaged to Portia de Rossi.

Jessica Walter and Alia Shawkat have never been in anything, so they should leap at the chance to do this movie.

TV sux

[homstar]

Yeah I understand what you are saying though. All of my favorite shows back in "the day" were all on like Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. Now all of those cartoons are repetitive and boring.


I especially wish that MTV considering it is called "MUSIC Television", would play some music. I mean even if it was music-related, that would be fine. But the fact that all you ever see is reality shows, makes you wonder....