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The Wire-18Aug02
Aug. 19th, 2002 12:08 amI'll be turning in early...I just finished watching The Wire. What an amazing show. So well written.
If any of you remember my questions to the home audience...one of them was "Does Kima Greggs die?" The answer: I don't know. Most network shows never drag a story out longer than two episodes. Big clifhangers are always resolved. But that's not always how it is in real life. In real life things take time to resolve themselves...if they ever do. HBO is, I think, one of the only channels really putting out high-quality TV. Why? I think it's because they are not a commercial station. The main purpose of commercial TV is not to deliver quality television, it's to deliver an audience of buyers to advertisers. HBO, Showtime, etc, being subscription based, allow for shows of a better quality. They don't have to fight the advertisers. Of course there are sometimes great shows on network TV, but I think it's much more difficult to produce good television when you have advertisers breathing down your neck.
As an example: I was watching the special called "TVs most censored moments." It retold the tale of when the TV show Playhouse 90 (I think that was its name) was doing "The Nuremberg Trials" back in the 50's. But the show was sponsored by some company that made stoves (GE or whatever)...they were worried that people would associate their gas stoves with the holocaust, so they demanded that all references to gas chambers be deleted. Typical. This is why I think PBS, HBO, etc. can put out better shows--they don't have to worry about offending some stove company.
Sigh...
Oh well, tomorrow I'm off to school. To do work for my professor, and etc. I'll let you now how it goes. I'll also let y'all know if I get to my Professor's office before he does! Oh and if I get a gig as an extra, and how my loan session tomorrow goes. Gotta get that loan to pay off my surgery debts!
Uh-oh...there's a movie on HBO...hmm will I actually get to bed early?
If any of you remember my questions to the home audience...one of them was "Does Kima Greggs die?" The answer: I don't know. Most network shows never drag a story out longer than two episodes. Big clifhangers are always resolved. But that's not always how it is in real life. In real life things take time to resolve themselves...if they ever do. HBO is, I think, one of the only channels really putting out high-quality TV. Why? I think it's because they are not a commercial station. The main purpose of commercial TV is not to deliver quality television, it's to deliver an audience of buyers to advertisers. HBO, Showtime, etc, being subscription based, allow for shows of a better quality. They don't have to fight the advertisers. Of course there are sometimes great shows on network TV, but I think it's much more difficult to produce good television when you have advertisers breathing down your neck.
As an example: I was watching the special called "TVs most censored moments." It retold the tale of when the TV show Playhouse 90 (I think that was its name) was doing "The Nuremberg Trials" back in the 50's. But the show was sponsored by some company that made stoves (GE or whatever)...they were worried that people would associate their gas stoves with the holocaust, so they demanded that all references to gas chambers be deleted. Typical. This is why I think PBS, HBO, etc. can put out better shows--they don't have to worry about offending some stove company.
Sigh...
Oh well, tomorrow I'm off to school. To do work for my professor, and etc. I'll let you now how it goes. I'll also let y'all know if I get to my Professor's office before he does! Oh and if I get a gig as an extra, and how my loan session tomorrow goes. Gotta get that loan to pay off my surgery debts!
Uh-oh...there's a movie on HBO...hmm will I actually get to bed early?
