Author Topic: In the New Yorker...  (Read 1912961 times)

Offline serious crayons

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #1940 on: April 20, 2018, 09:30:45 am »
Here's more about The Sopranos, which you specifically asked about. “The Sopranos,” which arrived on HBO in 1999, established a new benchmark, verisimilitude; in the fifth episode, we saw the Mob boss Tony Soprano strangling an informant. . . . “True Detective. . .reinvents the procedural form using a unique, layered story structure which braids multiple time periods and employs occasionally unreliable narration. “Fargo” ’s “Season One Is a Triangle,” Structure is the new Tony Danza. [In the old days of television, when four networks dominated the industry, the survival standard was clear. A show thrived by attracting a huge audience, and it attracted a huge audience by being diverting yet comforting. You just needed that actor everyone liked, Tony Danza or Ted Danson]"

What's that passage from? Yeah, I've seen all of those shows, along with most of the critically acclaimed "prestige TV" series. The Sopranos is generally considered the original inspiration for the genre.

From what you quoted, that essay sounds like it's about the growth of the "prestige TV" era in general. I doubt anyone outside of an academic environment is currently writing essays specifically analyzing TS the way we did here with BBM. But that's what Donald Glover was suggesting people would do with Atlanta.

I don't really get the "structure is the new Tony Danza" thing. Was Tony Danza ever really that popular? I thought he was pretty schlocky even back in the day. (Ted Danson was and is pretty popular, and he's still starring in a TV show.)

But then I guess I don't even know what they mean by "structure." Is it, like, narrative complexity? The good series these days do have that, but they don't necessarily have huge audiences, especially because they're almost all on cable. Who's the Boss probably attracted 10 times their audiences, although many series today are at least 10 times better.




« Last Edit: April 21, 2018, 09:01:56 am by serious crayons »

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #1941 on: April 20, 2018, 10:25:09 am »
I don't really get the "structure is the new Tony Danza" thing.

Me neither.
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Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #1942 on: April 21, 2018, 06:31:31 pm »
I would suggest you read that section of the article to get the points that Tad Friend was making on the evolution of TV. It's not that long a section, although the article itself is really loooooong.
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #1943 on: April 22, 2018, 10:07:12 am »
I would suggest you read that section of the article to get the points that Tad Friend was making on the evolution of TV. It's not that long a section, although the article itself is really loooooong.

Ohhh, I didn't realize that was a passage from the Glover profile. I looked it up, and it made more sense in context and order.

It's saying: In the old days, shows could become popular if they were predictable and comforting [and on at least two occasions starred Tony Danza], whereas nowadays popular shows are complex and intricately structured.

I still think Tony Danza is a dumb example. Ted Danson, maybe. I don't think of either one as an actor you could just plunk into any old show and have a guaranteed hit.

Lucille Ball, maybe ...? Andy Griffith? Bob Newhart? I can think of a few actors that might apply to, but not Tony Danza.



Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #1944 on: April 30, 2018, 02:49:58 pm »
Typically, I'm way behind. I enjoyed the articles about the bean guy and the red bees in the April 23 issue.

(Maybe Ennis wouldn't have gotten sick of beans if he could have gotten beans from the bean guy.  ;D )

I'm looking forward to the articles about the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the trip along the Rio Grande.
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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #1945 on: April 30, 2018, 09:28:14 pm »
I also devoured the article about the red bees. It was kind of sad. A King Lear-ish story.

Oh joy! I just found out that TNY will have a weekly crossword puzzle!
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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #1946 on: May 01, 2018, 01:36:00 pm »
Typically, I'm way behind. I enjoyed the articles about the bean guy and the red bees in the April 23 issue.

(Maybe Ennis wouldn't have gotten sick of beans if he could have gotten beans from the bean guy.  ;D )

I'm looking forward to the articles about the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the trip along the Rio Grande.

I read that over lunch today.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #1947 on: May 01, 2018, 04:48:09 pm »
The story about the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey contained some good tidbits of new information, but I've read some better critiques of the movie that were more in-depth. I liked the part about Clarke and Kubrick reading about psychedelic experiences yet not wanting to take the drugs themselves to have a more direct experience.
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #1948 on: May 02, 2018, 08:39:56 am »
The story about the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey contained some good tidbits of new information, but I've read some better critiques of the movie that were more in-depth.

I'm about midway through. I'm not that into it because I think I saw the movie only once -- when it was in theaters! :o -- and wasn't that crazy about it. Of course, I was only 10. But even then I could tell it was supposed to be making some grander statement, but just seemed boring.

Quote
I liked the part about Clarke and Kubrick reading about psychedelic experiences yet not wanting to take the drugs themselves to have a more direct experience.

 :laugh: I'm not sure it works that way. But I liked that part, too, mainly because Clarke and Kubrick said they were too "square" too do psychedelics. It got me musing on that word and wondering if, in 2018, it's so square to call someone a square that squareness has actually become cool.



Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: In the New Yorker...
« Reply #1949 on: May 02, 2018, 09:27:23 am »
I'm about midway through. I'm not that into it because I think I saw the movie only once -- when it was in theaters! :o -- and wasn't that crazy about it. Of course, I was only 10. But even then I could tell it was supposed to be making some grander statement, but just seemed boring.

I don't have the issue with me here at work to check it, but according to IMDb, the film was released in the U.S. in April 1968. I mention this because I have a very clear memory of actually seeing excerpts, or an excerpt, from the film in a class in school (I turned 10 in May 1968.). I know it was the part where the "space shuttle" approaches and docks at the space station, all to the tune of "On the Beautiful Blue Danube." The point of showing it in a classroom must have had something to do with the movie's vision of the future, space travel, and all that. What I cannot recall was what school year I saw this, whether it was before or after the film was released. April was late in the school year (ours ended around mid- to late June; I know we were always still in class for Flag Day, June 14), so I doubt I saw it in class if we saw it the same year but after the release.

When I finally saw the film, it was on TV. I was an adult by then, and I was still confused by the part about the apes and the black thingie.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.