What's the Stupidest Show on Television? My Top Pick Will Shock You!

[DaveC426913]

Shows I do enjoy, Flash Forward, Fringe, Caprica, House, Legend of the Seeker, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Dexter, Californication. I enjoyed Babylon 5 on dvd from start to finish, and BStar was amazing except for the last half hour of the series.

Anything that's not sci-fi or modern drama?

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Anything that's not sci-fi or modern drama?

Legend of the Seeker is fantasy. ;-)

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Fringe is a crappy show in general. Walter Bishop is the best actor anywhere near that show, and he makes everyone else better too. Isn't it sad that everyone else still sucks. Walter kills me, he's hilarious.

The son reminds me of a watered down Eddie Izzard.
I watched the first season back to back and was rather appalled by the ridiculous science that put even X-Files to shame. I still thought it was sort of charming in its own way. And Walter was definitely the most entertaining character.

 

[ndnkyd]

TMZ. What a waste!

 

[PhaseShifter]

Deal or No Deal. A game show that is so lame it doesn't even bother to have a theme.

I think we have a winner here. I tried watching that show twice. Once I even managed to force myself to watch an entire show.

Ever notice how frequently they change cameras on that show? The one time I watched it all the way through I kept track--there were two camera shots that lasted 3 seconds, and all the rest were 1-2 seconds.

 

[turbo]

I may be able to provide input here after tomorrow, providing I can convince myself to watch any TV shows. TDS (my phone and broad-band provider) has offered to reduce my phone and DSL bill by $20/mo if I add the lowest-tier of Dish network. Free installation, free HD-ready receiver with free connection to our 2nd TV. Essentially, I'll be paying $14/month for satellite TV, and my phone/DSL rates will be locked in for life. Since we lost about 5 broadcast channels (and their .2 equivalents) in the switch-over to digital TV, it seems like a reasonable way to get more choice for a small charge.

I'm looking forward to getting Discovery, History, CNN, CSPAN, Comedy Central, and others, and my wife likes the Food network. Much of the 120 "favorite channels" are padded with religious programming, info-mercials, and shopping channels, so we'll block those.

 

[Chi Meson]

I may be able to provide input here after tomorrow, providing I can convince myself to watch any TV shows. TDS (my phone and broad-band provider) has offered to reduce my phone and DSL bill by $20/mo if I add the lowest-tier of Dish network. Free installation, free HD-ready receiver with free connection to our 2nd TV. Essentially, I'll be paying $14/month for satellite TV, and my phone/DSL rates will be locked in for life. Since we lost about 5 broadcast channels (and their .2 equivalents) in the switch-over to digital TV, it seems like a reasonable way to get more choice for a small charge.

I'm looking forward to getting Discovery, History, CNN, CSPAN, Comedy Central, and others, and my wife likes the Food network. Much of the 120 "favorite channels" are padded with religious programming, info-mercials, and shopping channels, so we'll block those.

So, you'll be getting phone, internet, and Sat TV for a total of $34 per month?

 

[turbo]

So, you'll be getting phone, internet, and Sat TV for a total of $34 per month?

I wish. I was paying about $68 and after the Dish installation, it will be $82.

 

[MotoH]

Still a good deal. We have Gold HD, internet and phone and are paying under 100 a month.

 

[PhaseShifter]

I'm looking forward to getting Discovery, History, CNN, CSPAN, Comedy Central, and others, and my wife likes the Food network.

I think these days the Food Network has more science than the Discovery Channel...if not, it's pretty close.

 

[turbo]

I think these days the Food Network has more science than the Discovery Channel...if not, it's pretty close.

That's not good news. There was some good stuff on that channel years back, when we had cable. Lots of it was re-run (how much scientific content is being produced, anyway?), but it was a lot more interesting than the broadcast networks.

 

[Huckleberry]

Anything that's not sci-fi or modern drama?

Legend of the Seeker is fantasy. ;-)

Is there anything else worth watching right now? How about IT Crowd. It's British comedy. Good stuff, but the series are very short.

 

[Dembadon]

That's not good news. There was some good stuff on that channel years back, when we had cable. Lots of it was re-run (how much scientific content is being produced, anyway?), but it was a lot more interesting than the broadcast networks.

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/weekly.html" is a list of what is on this week. I am disappointed that so many "reality" shows have made their way to Discovery.

The http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/planet-earth/planet-earth.html" is by far one of my favorite programs. Every once in a while they'll show a couple episodes.

 

[Evo]

Turbo, you'll love Americn Pickers and Pawn Stars on the History Channel.

 

[dlgoff]

I just watched American Pickers for the first time and loved it. Yes, Turbo will love it. Haven't watch Pawn Stars yet though.

 

[turbo]

I'll watch it. I have friends who are pickers. They go door-to-door with wads of cash asking if people want to sell old guns, swords, china, glassware... They are very knowledgeable about a LOT of fields in antiques. Sometimes they over-pay and lose money, but usually, their stuff ends up in group shops and antique stores for retail sale.

 

[turbo]

Two of my picker buddies are brothers, and their closest associate is another friend. When cell phones came out, they were the first to pay for the bleeding edge, and when cell phones with cameras came out, they paid for that too. The reason? Nobody can be a whiz at everything. Hit a house with glassware, porcelain, and ceramics for sale? No problem if you have the chops. What if the home-owner brings out what is purported to be a "valuable" item outside your expertise? Make any excuse (an imaginary phone call is a good one) to get out of there and call for back-up. You might have to cut your buddy in on the swag, but that's better than missing a good haul. This is how real pickers work. It will be interesting to see how accurate the show is.

For example, a "confederate" flag made for display at later gatherings of confederate veterans might be worth a few hundred bucks at auction. You might be able to multiply that by 1000 if it is a real CW-era flag. Pickers can't know this stuff. It is too esoteric. By the time the top confederate-flag evaluator retired to her Texas horse-ranch, I was the only auction person that she would talk to, because she had satisfied herself that there wouldn't be any fakes slipping by me, and that she could then consult with a historical flag expert (type and style verified by age) that would let her write a bullet-proof letter of authentication. We had spent many hours on the phone and I was so honored to be the only person in the antiques business that she would accept new commissions from, even after retirement. She was trained by the most senior textile conservator at the Smithsonian lo, these many decades ago. The "replacements" that have popped up to take her business (especially in flag-authentication) are pale imitations.

 

[Evo]

Hey turbo, did you get your satellite up and running?

Unfortunately there's nothing worth watching on the history channel tonight, unless you're into gangs.

You'll love Pawn Stars. They call in the experts. Often they could have gotten a valuable relic for nothing, but they will call in an expert and often find out something is worth thousands more than the seller was asking. Then they have to pay a higher price or walk away from the sale.

 

[turbo]

Hey turbo, did you get your satellite up and running?

Unfortunately there's nothing worth watching on the history channel tonight, unless you're into gangs.

You'll love Pawn Stars. They call in the experts. Often they could have gotten a valuable relic for nothing, but they will call in an expert and often find out something is worth thousands more than the seller was asking. Then they have to pay a higher price or walk away from the sale.

Got the satellite running. Good reception - very clear with great sound. I have built a "Favorites List" with 38 channels on it. No infomercials, religious stuff, shopping shows, etc. I'm not a big fan of team sports, for the most part, so I didn't load ESPN and all of its alternate feeds. Right now, I have 5 channels giving me Olympic coverage, so that's great. NBC's coverage is pretty slack, so it's nice to have options. I watched the USA women edge out Russia for their first win in curling. Looks fun.

 

[dlgoff]

Well all right Turbo. I'm happy for you. After the switch to digital when you could only get but a few channels I was worried that you would never get to watch TV again. Now we can chat about stuff we've watched.

 

[turbo]

Well all right Turbo. I'm happy for you. After the switch to digital when you could only get but a few channels I was worried that you would never get to watch TV again. Now we can chat about stuff we've watched.

Maybe I can join the main-stream. Generally, I've had to resort to using my CD collection as background while doing research. Now, I might be able to use TV as mindless background, without using DSL feeds that slow my downloads from NASA, CalTech, HyperLEDA, etc. Those servers are REAL slow.

 

[turbo]

I just watched the History pawn shop show. Inaccuracies about the Winchester Model 1886 were rampant, including the oohing and aahing over how much of a kick a .45-90 has. These guys are not as familiar with guns as they should be. Nobody mentioned the finish of the receiver, which is pretty lame. A cased-colored receiver would bring a nice premium over a blued reciever - no mention. That rifle once had a tang sight on it, and that was missing, as was the front tang screw. No mention. If these guys were not screwing the sellers out of an abundance of caution (common in the pawn business), they would lose their shirts when dealing with antique guns.

 

[Evo]

I just watched the History pawn shop show. Inaccuracies about the Winchester Model 1886 were rampant, including the oohing and aahing over how much of a kick a .45-90 has. These guys are not as familiar with guns as they should be. Nobody mentioned the finish of the receiver, which is pretty lame. A cased-colored receiver would bring a nice premium over a blued reciever - no mention. That rifle once had a tang sight on it, and that was missing, as was the front tang screw. No mention. If these guys were not screwing the sellers out of an abundance of caution (common in the pawn business), they would lose their shirts when dealing with antique guns.

Was it the Pawn shop or the pickers?

 

[turbo]

Was it the Pawn shop or the pickers?

It was the Pawn shop guys.

 

[Eric McClean]

Shows on Mtv are stupidest...

 

[Evo]

dl, did you see tonight's American Pickers? Can you believe that guy with the tunnels?

 

[turbo]

dl, did you see tonight's American Pickers? Can you believe that guy with the tunnels?

Yep. Hoaders are fringe. I know a guy that has more useless electronics and more chassis, transformers, etc, that can ever be rehabilitated. He has some TVs that are as big as an amoire, with a green tube no bigger than a tea-cup.

 

[Evo]

Yep. Hoaders are fringe. I know a guy that has more useless electronics and more chassis, transformers, etc, that can ever be rehabilitated. He has some TVs that are as big as an amoire, with a green tube no bigger than a tea-cup.

I want that sundial that was on Pawn Stars.

 

[turbo]

I want that sundial that was on Pawn Stars.

Nice score! How much is real and how much is staged? That's a trouble that I have with "reality" shows. Producers have bags of money to create a show, and they may not play fair with the reality of picking or pawning. In fact, I would bet against them being honest.

 

[Evo]

Nice score! How much is real and how much is staged? That's a trouble that I have with "reality" shows. Producers have bags of money to create a show, and they may not play fair with the reality of picking or pawning. In fact, I would bet against them being honest.

Obviously it's edited, but I don't think they plant people that are coming in, if that's what you mean, they get a lot of junk that comes in, they just pick the clips that have some interest.