# Stupidest recent moment in television **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271 "2013-01-24T23:41:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/21 "2013-01-25T04:15:00Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > … Colors! Flashing lights! Cool! you didn’t notice the keyboard? :eek: wait, that actually answers my question! :p:D ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/22 "2013-01-25T04:15:24Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > TV shows are supposed to tell a story, not create an exact fascimilie of real life. Hell yes. Sometimes I read threads about TV shows and movies here and think that some people get off on forcing themselves to watch things they find terrible just so they can have the thrill of nitpicking. I used to read the weekly threads on The Office just for the lulz of watching geniuses do their “THIS COULD NEVER HAPPEN IN A REAL OFFICE!” routine. After a while it becomes less funny and more bewildering that some of these people really think a television satire should be realistic. Then again, it takes all kinds. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/23 "2013-01-25T04:20:46Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Can you imagine the founding fathers being from this generation of Americans? Yeah, me either. They would all be talking about the tyranny of King George, and then CSI would come on and they’d go back to doing what they do best.. Vegetate. > > Our government had turned a very large population into a bunch of docile automatons. Its almost like they are seeping an odorless gas into each of our homes to make us compliant. That’s what the TV does. The Founding Fathers were all exceptional men, and of the understandable opinion that they didn’t want the common herd to get too much power. This was because the average Joe has always been something of a dimbulb. This isn’t a phenomenon that was caused by television. If anything, the average person is more intelligent today than those of American colonial times largely because of television. People are far more informed about the world. True, there’s still plenty of ignorance, but not as much as before. I think it’s true that television has a hand in creating apathy among the masses. When everything is portrayed as HUGE SCARY AND EVIL, a certain sense of “I can’t do anything about this,” settles in among the masses, and leads to resignation rather than anger. That’s the real problem with television. Anyway, whatever television’s done, it isn’t the government doing it. The media isn’t a branch of the government. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/24 "2013-01-25T04:27:30Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Can you imagine the founding fathers being from this generation of Americans? Yeah, me either. They would all be talking about the tyranny of King George, and then CSI would come on and they’d go back to doing what they do best.. Vegetate. Yea, its a pity we don’t share the amazing work ethic of a bunch of effete aristocrats that bludgeoned slaves into doing all their actual work. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/25 "2013-01-25T04:27:42Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > A secretary in her sixties. Sequitur. Indeed, you are right. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/26 "2013-01-25T04:39:11Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > By the way, I share your amazement at the popularity of the show. But the general rule of keeping things simple, while throwing in a murder that can be solved in an hour with technology that most people don’t understand, and you have a winner! > > Try watching an old rerun of Columbo. You’ll pull your hair out. They are all exactly the same! Don’t get me wrong, I love a decent murder mystery or Police procedural show. I love _Castle_, _The Mentalist_, _White Collar_, _Psych_ (admittedly a comedy), and used to like _NCIS_ (but it’s too far gone these days). It’s just that _CSI_ takes the format into such absurd extremes, and has such an infuriating patronising tone, where they describe each ploddingly dull expositionary line like they’re talking to ten year olds. Drives me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/27 "2013-01-25T04:54:07Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Fifties? No. Sixties? Maybe. Wrong. 🙂 My cite is my sister, who is a fifty two year old secretary, and she and her classmates were definitely taught shorthand. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/28 "2013-01-25T05:01:05Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Yea, its a pity we don’t share the amazing work ethic of a bunch of effete aristocrats that bludgeoned slaves into doing all their actual work. Oh, come on now… not ALL of them had slaves. And say what you want about the rich aristocrats, but they did put their entire futures and fortunes on the line… If the colonists lost, all of those guys would have been killed, and their families would have all been stripped of their lands and fortunes. They WERE far from angels, I agree. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > Don’t get me wrong, I love a decent murder mystery or Police procedural show. I love _Castle_, _The Mentalist_, _White Collar_, _Psych_ (admittedly a comedy), and used to like _NCIS_ (but it’s too far gone these days). It’s just that _CSI_ takes the format into such absurd extremes, and has such an infuriating patronising tone, where they describe each ploddingly dull expositionary line like they’re talking to ten year olds. Drives me nuts. You are right. What should prove to anyone watching the CSI series is that the people on the show are irrelevant. The plot outline is so refined and perfected that they lose their main character in Vegas (Petersen) go to fish urn and now Danson, and it doesn’t skip a beat. . ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/29 "2013-01-25T15:39:10Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > You are right. What should prove to anyone watching the CSI series is that the people on the show are irrelevant. The plot outline is so refined and perfected that they lose their main character in Vegas (Petersen) go to fish urn and now Danson, and it doesn’t skip a beat. . Not true. The Fishburn years were such a disaster that we stopped watching and only tentatively gave Danson a chance. The format of the show has changed accordingly. There’s much less reliance on magic technology and much more on weird murder mystery. That doesn’t always work because audiences are so far ahead of writers in who they suspect that the show has to withhold evidence until the end to reveal the murderer, but it’s more fun than lab work. I suspect that you haven’t been watching the show and are using out of date memories to judge it. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/30 "2013-01-25T17:16:40Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Not true. The Fishburn years were such a disaster that we stopped watching and only tentatively gave Danson a chance. The format of the show has changed accordingly. There’s much less reliance on magic technology and much more on weird murder mystery. That doesn’t always work because audiences are so far ahead of writers in who they suspect that the show has to withhold evidence until the end to reveal the murderer, but it’s more fun than lab work. > > I suspect that you haven’t been watching the show and are using out of date memories to judge it. You are correct. I have only seen Fishburn and Danson in reruns, and to be honest, I have become so used to the show, I don’t really actively watch it. It’s more in the background while I’m doing something else. The little I have seen of both Grisson replacements seemed to have the same formulaic approach. But if this isnt the case, I stand corrected. I haven’t watched CSI on prime time for years now. Why were the Fishbirn years so bad? I found him to be a decent replacement for Petersen. I mean, he’s no Gil Grissom, but who is? And since the show is still on, I thought it must be working. Originally, I thought when Grissom left, the show would die. But it is still hanging on. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/31 "2013-01-25T17:22:38Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > I love the ones where thay have a picture on the left hand side of the monitor and the right hand side ff the monitor is rapidly cycling through a series of images untill the same one pops up on both sides and overlayed on the images bold red text flashes > > MATCH > MATCH > MATCH… > > It’s even better when there’s a loud “BING!, BING!, BING!” to go with it. Well, when you spend all that money on a machine that goes “BING!,” you’d better get some use out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/32 "2013-01-25T17:36:31Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > In the pursuit of fighting ignorance, could you please explain this to me? As a 50 year old non-gamer, I’m not getting it. > > Be gentle. Well, he apparently as the magical ability to see the number of cores in a computer by looking at the monitor but also manages to miss 4 of them. I’m not technical enough to know how ridiculous the specs are but when they start talking about the games, it gets really bad. He says she has the top score in almost every MMORPG, which would be games like World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, or Runescape where there isn’t a high score system as such because the games don’t really have an endpoint. Not to mention the fact that people will spend 40+ hours a week on their MMORPG of choice in order to become really good at it. We’re supposed to believe that she’s the best of the best in not just one but multiple games? It’s like having him interview an athlete and go, “You’re Joe Blow?! You took the gold in every event in the 1994 Olympics!” ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/33 "2013-01-25T17:39:09Z")
Honestly, I gotta believe that the writers of NCIS are doing this on purpose to have fun. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/34 "2013-01-25T17:41:01Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I nominate the Ripper Street pilot, where the entire plot revolves around a snuff film. In 1889. The first movie was filmed in England in 1888. It was only a few seconds long, so having longer films in 1889 is a little unrealistic, but they only had to push the development of film back a few years. I’d hardly call it the “stupidest recent moment in TV”. More like “minor nitpick a few people who are well read in film history might pick up on, and of which the writers were probably aware but decided to ignore so that their script would work in recent tv”. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/35 "2013-01-25T17:42:31Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > go to fish urn > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The Fishburn > [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Fishburn It’s Fishburn **e**. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/36 "2013-01-25T17:45:07Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > Obligatory [Two Idiots, One Keyboard](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ). Oh my god, it hurts so bad. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/37 "2013-01-25T17:47:15Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > “You’re Joe Blow?! You took the gold in every event in the 1994 Olympics!” Thanks. Got it. Maybe “You won the Stanley Cup for every event in the 1994 Olympics” would be more accurate. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/38 "2013-01-25T17:55:08Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Honestly, I gotta believe that the writers of NCIS are doing this on purpose to have fun. I don’t think you can come up with statements as hilarious as “I’ll create a GUI interface in visual basic to track the killer’s IP” on accident. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/39 "2013-01-25T17:56:39Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > Obligatory [Two Idiots, One Keyboard](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ). Moderators, could you please transfer this thread to General Questions, then lock it? The question has been answered. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271/40 "2013-01-25T18:00:48Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I don’t think you can come up with statements as hilarious as “I’ll create a GUI interface in visual basic to track the killer’s IP” on accident. Yea, the “two idiots, one key board” thing seems pretty obviously done for laughs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-recent-moment-in-television/648271.md?page=3)