The great thing about Geico is that they not only run good ad campaigns - they run several campaigns at the same time. So as you’re getting sick of one, a different one is hitting its peak and another one is just starting out. This means they always have entertaining ads running.
The bad thing about Geico? They’re actually a fairly mediocre insurance company. Not bad but basically they’re an average insurance company with great advertising.
Now The Martin Agency, who does their ads, they’re a great company.
I just appriciate that they seem to be funding about 80% of my free Hulu watching.
It makes sense that their mediocre though. Their basic business model seems to be to saturate advertizing to make sure they’re the first thing that pops into someones head when they think about calling for car-insurance quotes, and then make their money off people who tend to go with the first place they think of.
I didn’t say network, I said commercial - meaning, I mostly watch shows through NetFlix or iTunes. Whether a show first ran on a network, a basic cable channel, or one of the premium channels, is pretty much meaningless to me.
Absolutely, unprecedented. The Sopranos is what started things rolling. It’s the demarcation line for the new golden age - it defined the direction that television drama is currently following. When it premiered, there was really nothing like it on television. Now, there are a ton of shows which, if not as good as The Sopranos, are undeniably in the same ballpark.
Animationwise, I think we’re generally in an upward swing, as well. Nothing matches The Simpsons in its heyday, but we’ve got an enviable glut of really, really good animated shows right now, targeting a wide array of audiences.
As for reality TV, well, that’s where the YMMV part comes in. For my money, the only good thing to come out of the reality TV boom was that it drew all the bottom feeders in the entertainment industry away from scripted shows, giving the genuinely talented and visionary creators room to really stretch their wings.
It is very hard for me to believe how really good the current crop of shows are on TV.
When I grew up, most of what you watched was either too silly to stomach or too boring to watch. Watch a few reruns of the Beverly Hillbillies, for example. That was a top-rated show in the 1960s. Now, the only way it is at all amusing is if you are under the influence.
In comparison, we have had The Sopranos, Mad Men, True Blood and Game of Thrones.
And there are more of these kinds of shows in the pipeline. I hear that Orange is the New Black is quite well written and with notably great performances from the actors.
And as a SF fan of 50+ years, may I remind you all of the amazing difference in writing and acting between the two incarnations of Battlestar Galactica? Remember that television is a relatively new medium compared with theater and novels. It took many years of failures to lead to the Golden Age that we are now experiencing.
I look at it on a percentage basis. There is some good stuff, both adverts and shows. There is also a whole lot of crap. With so many more ( 30+ ? ) major channels the ratio of good to bad is a lot lower than when there were only the three major networks and the “educational” channel. I think there is also a lot more direct, can-hardly-tell-the-difference copy cat stuff.
Personally, I refuse to stay in the same room with any show that depends on people arguing or people getting voted off or otherwise removed on a periodic basis.
Also, cop shows based on how much can we gross you out. I’m also getting burned out on the grotty life animated stuff.
The adverts, there are a few good ones, but not enough to slog through the rest to see them. Praised be the DVR.
That reminded me of the first time I saw Bevis and Butthead. It was at an animation festival in NYC and I was so wasted and so incapacitated with laughter that it took several minutes before I could compose myself enough to leave the theater. I was in the front row so I don’t know for sure how people reacted but judging from my SO’s embarrassment at the time, they were mostly bemused and only mildly suspicious of my being possessed.
Anyway, I’m really posting to mention Rectify on Reelz I think. I don’t know that this is a “great” show but it’s truly original and very, very unusual. Worth checking out.
No, but I only recently realized that the recent “Duck Rehab” campaign has to do with the fact that they fired Gilbert Gottfried as the Voice of the Duck and are setting up the introduction of the duck’s new Voice at some point.
I think it’s interesting that we now have “custom” commercials. In other words, commercials that parody the show you happen to be watching.
For example; Falling Skies, I believe it’s Hersey that has a commercial on there of two people in a post apocalyptic world being chased around by aliens.
That commercial only works if you are watching Falling Skies.
I’ve also seen another commercials like that for another show but I can’t remember what it was.