I recently discovered something.... the ten second or so opening preview scenes for Dallas.....were different from the actual later scenes! I just happened to catch that on an episode I was watching....different camera angles, different words. I kept buzzing between scenes and opening previews to figure out what was going on....and later realized it was happening on all the episodes. It's like the previews were shot separately....rather than being edits from the episodes. I bet a lot of shows did that.
They still do that. There was an episode of Parenthood where the preview showed the husband of one of the couples in a dinner meeting with his female boss. The husband was separated from his wife at the time. He was supposed to be touching the boss' hand in a romantic gesture. The actual scene in the show was NOT the footage from the preview, but very similar... except that it was clear that it was NOT a romantic gesture. They lied to us with the preview. I wonder if this happened with the shows that used scenes from each episode in the opening credits, like I Spy or Mission: Impossible. I'm also reminded of Mannix, which featured scenes from various episodes in the opening credits, except for the famous one of him running across the bridge, which was never in any episode!
There is kind of a "That Guy" following- that seem to be fading with every year. I maintain that there are no great "character actors" like there were back in the day. Like when you saw that someone esteemed like "William Windom" was going to be a guest star on the TV show you were watching that night (for instance, Twilight Zone, The Big Valley, Mannix or Star Trek) and you could sit back and go, "This is going to be a good one..." How I wish they would shows his "My World And Welcome To It" on a DECADES type channel. Or release it on DVD.
Honestly, virtually nothing. It's not an original thought but it's one I agree with: We are in the era of Peak TV. For me, there isn't a single comedy series from the 60s to the 00s that can touch Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. There isn't a single dramatic series from the 20th century that can touch The Wire or Breaking Bad. TV has largely supplanted regular movies when it comes to stories driven by character and dialogue. Movie economics dictates heavy doses of (1) super hero movies and other films that liberally employ the explosion machine, and (2) kid-friendly animation with jokes and stories that connect with parents too. These are incredibly expensive, labor-intensive undertakings, and take advantage of the theater (huge screen, surround sound) in a way that's pretty superfluous for "quieter" movies. The mid-market drama has largely moved to TV because TV has proven it can do them really well, so top directors and actors, in their primes, will do TV. TV shows 20+ years ago didn't have the ambition, let alone the chops, to pull off storytelling as good as Deadwood, or Rectify, or Fleabag.
It was quite common pre-70s(?) sitcom practice that when we heard people's thought process, their audible thoughts were always drenched in heavy echo to make it more obvious that they were just thinking, which always made what they were thinking a little bit funnier for some reason. It was quite an effective little tactic, and I miss that.
One of the biggest problems now, though not a fault of the show, is spoilers through social media and even in the synopsis text boxes of the listings. Unless you watch it right as it airs or can completely tune out the descriptions, it seems like someone or something is going to give everything away before you see it. The social media aspect obviously applies more to hipper modern shows like Game of Thrones or Stranger Things. It's pretty annoying when you log into fb and it's a flood of major spoilers within hours, minutes, or even seconds of something airing.
I tend to binge watch shows years after their original airings. I doubt I'll ever do that with Game of Thrones, as it will be impossible to forget how it ended (after how it was beaten into my head over and over on social media, news outlets, etc.)!
Being able to watch an entire TV show without having to view an unrelated animated moving image darting about on the bottom left of the the screen advertising what's coming up next, or even worse, next week on their channel, while solely or simultaneously having the station's logo tattooed on the bottom right of the screen during key scenes, or otherwise. What's next, serialized-episodic Burma Shave-type advertising on the top of the screen!
Really not seen, but over the Another World logo, Bill Wolff(who was the announcer till 1987) says at the end of the "Lenore" and "Walter" wedding, "Wedding gowns by Murray Hamburger. We thank Bridals magazine for their assistance in this episode." That was unusual announcement for a soap. Don't forget "Wardrobe by Orbach's" too.
the commercials...no erectile dysfunction commercials back then! LOL...plus all the sickening medical crap ...sick!
or in threads on the forums throughout! it's a mine field out there...one wrong click and BAM!!! you know the ending! LOL!
you don't know how lucky you are! it is absolutely continuing disgusting filth ...shameless crap daily on commercial television...
