Why must TV forsake me?

[sechs]

Yup, not happy about it. But the speed difference compared to DSL is significant (in my area at least). I've heard that people have had good luck keeping their promotional pricing long-term if they make a bit of a stink, and all I want is internet, so we'll see how it goes.

I haven't found that to be the case. They were unfazed when I said that AT&T was going to give me $150 plus a free(ish) modem to switch -- and charge me less than Comcast was. And AT&T has been so nice as to drop my price about every two months.

I also had morning and evening slow-down problems with Comcast. And I kept blowing the cap because they count up and down.

 

[timwhit]

I haven't found that to be the case. They were unfazed when I said that AT&T was going to give me $150 plus a free(ish) modem to switch -- and charge me less than Comcast was. And AT&T has been so nice as to drop my price about every two months.

I also had morning and evening slow-down problems with Comcast. And I kept blowing the cap because they count up and down.

What kind of bandwidth do you get with ATT?

 

[sechs]

I'm on the Pro plan, which I think is 3M/512k. It fits my needs 95% of the time, and I can deal with the other 5%.

 

[Mercutio]

Shameless is deeply amusing. The American version benefits from higher production values and William H. Macy, but the UK series are quite funny as well.

 

[LunarMist]

Shameless is deeply amusing. The American version benefits from higher production values and William H. Macy, but the UK series are quite funny as well.

It sure is quite different from commercial TV. :bsmurf: The characters are good and the sets are fabulous.

 

[LunarMist]

Tv is ridiculous. Why are the dead corpses sometimes breathing? They think we don't notice on the HD TV? :roll:

 

[MaxBurn]

Got into dollhouse recently, i rather like it.

 

[Mercutio]

Got into dollhouse recently, i rather like it.

Most of the cast will be at the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo in a couple weeks.

The biggest problem is that the conclusion is tragically low budget.

 

[LunarMist]

Dollhouse had an interesting concept, but was poorly executed. Eliza Dushku is just awful.

 

[Mercutio]

I don't know anyone who would disagree, but the supporting cast was nine shades of awesome.

 

[Stereodude]

Eliza Dushku is just awful.

Not too bad on the eyes though. :rotfl:

 

[ddrueding]

Not too bad on the eyes though. :rotfl:

Nope. I vaguely remember her from True Lies.

 

[Mercutio]

Not too bad on the eyes though. :rotfl:

I don't think she's more than generically attractive. Now that I think about it, she was really the least attractive woman in the cast.

 

[LunarMist]

Not too bad on the eyes though. :rotfl:

Meh. I don't think so. Her face is insufficiently symmetric to be really nice. She often acts like she is "all that," which makes it worse.

 

[LunarMist]

Merc beat me to it.

 

[Howell]

Any scifi show is going to have a limited viewership when the males cast is more attractive than the female cast.

 

[time]

If true, I find that statement very depressing.

 

[time]

Given that no-one here has even mentioned it, I presume that Stargate Universe doesn't appeal to your tastes?

For what it's worth, after a slow start, it's the best SciFi drama I've ever seen. I suspect the complicated SciFi backdrop stops it appealing to a wider audience.

 

[Mercutio]

I've got all the Stargate shows but I've never watched it. The movie was pretty awful.

 

[CougTek]

Given that no-one here has even mentioned it, I presume that Stargate Universe doesn't appeal to your tastes?

Wasn't the show cancelled midway thru the second season? And no, I wasn't hook by it. Too much drama, not enough brawl. Felt like a mix between Star Trek and Oprah (at least what I heard Oprah is/was).

 

[Mercutio]

There have been several Stargate shows. I think at least one of them ran for 10 years.

 

[Will Rickards]

I watch Stargate Universe.
But there is a heavy leaning towards the emotional drama. Almost like the scifi is just the background. Unlike previous stargate shows.
It is pushing the stargate mythos to new levels though.

 

[time]

Stargate Franchise Primer

• Stargate movie - B grade sci-fi with 2 leads: action man and geek.
  
  
• Stargate SG1 - team of 4 is sent through the stargate each episode to explore yet another new world. Action man has morphed into the wisecracking partner of a straight man (think Kirk + Spock) while the geek has been split into two: one does science and the other does language and everything else. Whenever possible, they use their P90 submachine guns to mow down the enemy. Really though, it's more comedy than drama.
  
  
• Stargate Atlantis - same as SG1 only they now have a floating city in a different galaxy to help provide script material. Although they still have their P90s, the heavy militarism is toned down, there's more emphasis on adventure and intrigue and the new characters are a little less wooden. Some of the characters actually have flaws, and the geek is played by a charismatic actor who pretty much carries the whole comedrama.
  
  
• Stargate Universe - they have a stargate and there are still some military personnel, but that's about the only thing in common with the earlier shows. It's now an ensemble cast (with some serious actors) stuck in a flying tomb that they can't control, galaxies away from home. It's deadly serious stuff - no comedy - with the story building over multiple episodes. Members of the cast die. All the characters are flawed, some psychotically so.
  
  In short, it's definitely not light entertainment like Star Trek (or Oprah!). After some episodes, I feel like I've been watching Carnivàle. My wife finds the atmosphere too oppressive - that's probably what killed it off.
  
  Despite all that, much of it is incredibly well made and highly satisfying entertainment (we watch it in a dark room without ads).

 

[Howell]

I really liked what I saw of SU but it disappeared for a time and I forgot about it.

 

[Mercutio]

I'm always wary of getting into a new Science Fiction fandom. I watched all of Star Trek in chronological order last year (starting with Enterprise and working up to Voyager and the TNG movies), and all of Babylon 5 the year before, and those didn't inspire my everlasting loyalty, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I pick up a new habit.

My friend wants me to start Fringe, for example.

 

[Will Rickards]

Fringe is great. I have no qualms recommending that.

 

[ddrueding]

My wife has never seen any Star Trek. I'm considering doing the chronological thing; starting with the newest movie, the highlights of the original series (tribbles, etc), the first movies, some episodes of TNG, not sure.

She did Star Wars 1-6 for the first time in chronological order as well.

 

[Pradeep]

My wife has never seen any Star Trek. I'm considering doing the chronological thing; starting with the newest movie, the highlights of the original series (tribbles, etc), the first movies, some episodes of TNG, not sure.

She did Star Wars 1-6 for the first time in chronological order as well.

The blu-ray versions of the original series (1 thru 3) have great picture/audio quality for the time, plus you can select original or enhanced special effects. Season 2 has an entire disc dedicated to Tribbles (original show, animated one, Deep Space Nine crossover episode, interview with Shatner etc).

 

[LunarMist]

All you young'uns don't remember when Star Trek was on live.
It was a different world back then and the show was pretty wild. I have to admit being a Trekkie back then and into the early 70s. At one point I knew the name of every episode by heart.

 

[ddrueding]

I have all the original episodes in a folder around here somewhere...

 

[LunarMist]

My wife has never seen any Star Trek. I'm considering doing the chronological thing; starting with the newest movie, the highlights of the original series (tribbles, etc), the first movies, some episodes of TNG, not sure.

Heh. The Omega Glory probably would not have been looked upon favorably there back then.

OTOH, I've not seen the Star Wars movies other than the original film and about 5 minutes of the second one.

 

[Howell]

My cousin is watching the original ST series straight though wih his young son. So now I've seen a couple episodes.

 

[LunarMist]

The blu-ray versions of the original series (1 thru 3) have great picture/audio quality for the time, plus you can select original or enhanced special effects. Season 2 has an entire disc dedicated to Tribbles (original show, animated one, Deep Space Nine crossover episode, interview with Shatner etc).

For the time? Blue-rays are modern. Did they convert the film to HDs?

 

[LunarMist]

The blu-ray versions of the original series (1 thru 3) have great picture/audio quality for the time, plus you can select original or enhanced special effects. Season 2 has an entire disc dedicated to Tribbles (original show, animated one, Deep Space Nine crossover episode, interview with Shatner etc).

For the time? Blue-rays are modern. Did they convert the film to HD?

 

[Pradeep]

For the time? Blue-rays are modern. Did they convert the film to HD?

The original series as aired from 1966-1969 was broadcast in 480i NTSC.

For the Blu-ray versions, they took the original live action 35mm film and scanned it in HD, then reproduced the visual effects in HD, also remixed the sound to 7.1 DTS Master Audio.

When you play the discs, you can choose either the original visual effects, or the remastered ones (sound switches to the original mono track to suit).

Everything is still presented in it's original 1:3.3 ratio. It's just very impressive how the quality of the video comes through, compared to the original.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviewshd/bdreviews092409.html

 

[LunarMist]

I watched the series on a color Philco Ford console TV, which was new at the time and did not require the manual demagnetizer that the earlier sets did. US TV broadcasts were described as 525 lines back then.

 

[Stereodude]

US TV broadcasts were described as 525 lines back then.

Yeah, but I believe there was only an image in 480 of them.

 

[LunarMist]

Between the sync and the overscanning maybe 450 lines were visible, but that was not my point. Anyway the sales guy is long dead now.

 

[ddrueding]

If you were to show someone some Star Trek TOS episodes who had only seen the most recent movie (the prequel). What would they be? I'll be doing "The Cage" and "Where no Man has Gone Before" because they are "the beginning", but after that?

 

[sechs]

The Trouble with Tribles?

I didn't see the movie because it looked like crap and had at least one crap actor in it. So, I might be off.