Journal bethanie's Journal: HBO Sunday Night: Carnivale & K Street 16
So tonight, for the first time since the end of June, I got my regular dose of Sunday night HBO. (No, not HBI -- that's Tuesday night. gmhowell is Monday, Surak is Wednesday & Friday, Dave is Thursday, and Saturday is Take All Comers night [literally!!!]. Get it straight!)
And actually, it wasn't my "regular" dose, because the regular will *always* mean Sex and the City, Six Feet Under, and/or The Sopranos. So tonight I missed Sex, didn't bother with Sopranos (because I have the entire collection on DVD [where available] and tape), and 6FU isn't airing now. Instead, I tuned in during Carnivale (fairly well into the program -- I don't know exactly when). Kiddo was in Noisemaker Mode tonight, so it was difficult to hear what was supposed to be going on, and then Hubby walked in after I'd been watching for 5 minutes and wanted to know WTF was happening. Like I knew!
So, aside from the distractions, interruptions, and annoyances that constitute 95% of my life, I would have to say that the show looks fairly interesting. Definitely worth tuning in again to follow along.
After Carnivale was done, I stayed tuned to HBO, because after so many years of extremely reliable Sunday night programming, they have earned the benefit of the doubt. Also, I am a woman, and am fortunate enough to have been born without the degenerative 5-Second Clicker Syndrome[1] that seems to be congenitally attached to the Y chromosome.
Keep in mind that I have been completely bereft of TV since early July, so I have missed out on any hype or promotions that may have announced the next show: K Street. It lands, without theme music or fanfare, on my screen, and immediately has me wondering WTF is supposed to be going on. Fortunately, it's not too hard to figure out.
I'm not going to go into details about the show itself, because I tend to get really bogged down in details (if you hadn't noticed yet), and I wouldn't do a good job, anyway.
Hubby watched for a few minutes from the kitchen (he was doing dishes), and could hardly hear what was going on. His assessment was that it was Time-Warner's form of making a campaign contribution (to guess which side?).
My take was a little more open-minded. Yes, they certainly did give a *lot* of well-lit, fairly positively spun face time to one particular candidate... but it wasn't all necessarily ass-kissing. It was a fairly cynical presentation of the "grooming" process that major candidates go through before major events, the processing and packaging of politicians, if you will. And yes, it may be true what they say about sausage and laws, but I'm not too fond of either, so it doesn't bother me to watch what's involved in their making.
What I also found intriguing was the final caveat: the credits. Directed by Steven Soderberg, with George Clooney and Soderberg as Exec Producers. Now, I am familiar with the conventional wisdom about Clooney's politics, and personally, I think he's been working the Hollywood power machine *hard* over the past few years. I didn't realize that Soderberg was politically in bed with him, as well -- or maybe he isn't, and it's a business decision.
In any case, Hubby may have dismissed it as a campaign commercial, but I see it as a fascinating piece of the Big Picture Puzzle. With my own political opinions firmly in place, I will continue to watch this series with interest until I can come up with a definitive reason not to.
[1]5-Second Clicker Syndrome: The inability to allow the TV to remain set on one channel for more than 5 seconds after a commercial airs or once the program has ended (meaning that the actual narrative has concluded -- rolling credits & next week's previews don't count).
And actually, it wasn't my "regular" dose, because the regular will *always* mean Sex and the City, Six Feet Under, and/or The Sopranos. So tonight I missed Sex, didn't bother with Sopranos (because I have the entire collection on DVD [where available] and tape), and 6FU isn't airing now. Instead, I tuned in during Carnivale (fairly well into the program -- I don't know exactly when). Kiddo was in Noisemaker Mode tonight, so it was difficult to hear what was supposed to be going on, and then Hubby walked in after I'd been watching for 5 minutes and wanted to know WTF was happening. Like I knew!
So, aside from the distractions, interruptions, and annoyances that constitute 95% of my life, I would have to say that the show looks fairly interesting. Definitely worth tuning in again to follow along.
After Carnivale was done, I stayed tuned to HBO, because after so many years of extremely reliable Sunday night programming, they have earned the benefit of the doubt. Also, I am a woman, and am fortunate enough to have been born without the degenerative 5-Second Clicker Syndrome[1] that seems to be congenitally attached to the Y chromosome.
Keep in mind that I have been completely bereft of TV since early July, so I have missed out on any hype or promotions that may have announced the next show: K Street. It lands, without theme music or fanfare, on my screen, and immediately has me wondering WTF is supposed to be going on. Fortunately, it's not too hard to figure out.
I'm not going to go into details about the show itself, because I tend to get really bogged down in details (if you hadn't noticed yet), and I wouldn't do a good job, anyway.
Hubby watched for a few minutes from the kitchen (he was doing dishes), and could hardly hear what was going on. His assessment was that it was Time-Warner's form of making a campaign contribution (to guess which side?).
My take was a little more open-minded. Yes, they certainly did give a *lot* of well-lit, fairly positively spun face time to one particular candidate... but it wasn't all necessarily ass-kissing. It was a fairly cynical presentation of the "grooming" process that major candidates go through before major events, the processing and packaging of politicians, if you will. And yes, it may be true what they say about sausage and laws, but I'm not too fond of either, so it doesn't bother me to watch what's involved in their making.
What I also found intriguing was the final caveat: the credits. Directed by Steven Soderberg, with George Clooney and Soderberg as Exec Producers. Now, I am familiar with the conventional wisdom about Clooney's politics, and personally, I think he's been working the Hollywood power machine *hard* over the past few years. I didn't realize that Soderberg was politically in bed with him, as well -- or maybe he isn't, and it's a business decision.
In any case, Hubby may have dismissed it as a campaign commercial, but I see it as a fascinating piece of the Big Picture Puzzle. With my own political opinions firmly in place, I will continue to watch this series with interest until I can come up with a definitive reason not to.
[1]5-Second Clicker Syndrome: The inability to allow the TV to remain set on one channel for more than 5 seconds after a commercial airs or once the program has ended (meaning that the actual narrative has concluded -- rolling credits & next week's previews don't count).
Screw all the premium channels (Score:1)
I pay $43.00 a month for Directivo. The "premium" channels are an additional $12--each. (or they were the last time I looked) I pay $19.95 a month for Netflix. I watch mainly sports and a few shows on tv, and get all my movie fixes off a netflix.
Netflix is free for a month trial. I highly recommend you head over to netflix.com and check it out. Not you as in Bethanie, but you as in everybody reading this thing. Friedn45 is the code. Go for it, post your results. Let m
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Screw all the premium channels (Score:1)
Typos abound my friend, typos abound.
yes, as the good man Kormoc said, it's friend45. Not friedn. All though FriedN sounds yummy.
Re:Screw all the premium channels (Score:2)
Re:Screw all the premium channels (Score:2)
We considered getting a Tivo when we got the satellite package, but we can't get Dish Network here (too many tall trees, their satellite is too low), so we had to go with DirecTV, and their PVR program sucks. We decided that with the technology emerging as quickly as it is, it would make more sense to wait a while -- more TV is not necessarily high on our priority list right now.
Anyway, what I really like about HBO isn't the movies, it's the original series they come up with.
Re:Screw all the premium channels (Score:2)
As an asisde, I've always prefered DirecTV to Dish Network because the DirecTV equipment comes from top notch home entertainment manufacturers like Sony and Phillips. Dish Network gives you flimsy junk. For the most par tthey give you similar channels at similar prices, except that DirecTV has some excellent sports oriented pa
Re:Screw all the premium channels (Score:1)
It's a rip-off - we get to pay an additional few dollars a month over what DTV charges for the privilege of crappy telephone support when you have problems and a lack of offerings like DirecTivo. I really wanted to get Dish, but their satellite is too low in the sky to clear the (very big) trees behind the house.
Re:Screw all the premium channels (Score:1)
Well, you go on their site, setup an acount and start looking for movies and shows. All only on DVD.
When you find a movie or season of shows you want to watch, you add them to your queue. The first three shows in your queue get sent to you through the mail and after you watch them, you put them back in the mail (no postage necessary, it's already paid) then once netflix gets it, you get the next one. Turn around time is usually 3 days for me. I live about 20 miles from their depot
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Re:Screw all the premium channels (Score:2)
Re:Screw all the premium channels (Score:1)
I have had a couple movies lately with scratches in a few spots, but I cleaned them up and they worked fine.
Checked the box "dvd scratched" and sallied forth.
Sunday night viewing (Score:2)
Basic premise -
18 year old girl walking down the street is hit in the head with a piece of debris (actually a toilet seat) falling from a space station. She dies. She is assigned to be part of a group of "undead" whose job is to show up at a places where people are about to die and escort the soul to the afterlife.
Re:Sunday night viewing (Score:2)
Oh, you may be right about my having transposed systems -- I can't remember which is which. One has their satellite at 35 degrees, the other at 45 (we had to go with the 45 degree one). Hubby was pissed because we had to go with Pegasus which offers nothin
My sunday night preference (Score:2)
If Alias is on, I will tune that in, and keep track of football in the commercial breaks. My clicker is set to flip between two channels, at any given time.
Alias commercial football for two minutes Alias.
But when BOTH are at commercial at the same time, horrors!
Commercials wouldn't be so bad if they were done better. The worst ones are the ones that are just lame ("can you hear me now"), and don't realize how annoying they a
More on K Street (Score:1)
Show Raises Eyebrows About Dean's 'Straight Talk' [foxnews.com]
Life imitates art imitating life...
Re:More on K Street (Score:2)