Watching TV - there must be a trick that I'm missing

[mothwing]

How do you guys watch TV?

This is a serious question. Ever since I got sick I rediscovered watching TV in an attempt to brighten my mood. Turns out it's not as effortless as I thought it was, because pretending that things never happened to keep my mood from plummeting isn't effortless, relaxed entertainment.

It used to be easy before I got sick - turn on TV, forget I am a gay woman and that I actually care about people, go.

Now, not only can I not forget I'm a gay woman, I'm also no longer able to appreciate cynicism because again, it hurts my mood. And I like being in a good mood. I only started watching TV again because it requires comparatively less effort than reading and since my expectations of TV are so low that I'm not as easily disappointed or hurt by issues relating to LGBT people/gender/race, bad characters, bad writing, historical inaccuracies, you name it.

Still, even given my really low expectations, it's getting harder and harder to watch TV without needing to make a conscious effort to pretend that what you just saw did not happen and force your mind to black out whatever comedy or sitcom just drove home that people like me deserve to die/be raped/be tortured/be in pain because that's funny.

Is there a trick to this that I'm missing? If you watch TV, I'd like to know what your methods are, and I'd also be really grateful for recommendations for funny series.

Comments

[lisaquestions.livejournal.com]

Pushing Daisies was interesting.

Actually, it had one pretty explicitly fatphobic episode, which was toward the end of the series. But it was otherwise not very problematic.

The premise is that the main character can touch people and bring them back to life. If he touches them again, they die and he can never revive them again. If he lets someone live for longer than 60 seconds, someone else nearby will die. He's working with a PI who has him revive murder victims so they can finger their killers, thus netting both of them a decent amount of cash for solving the murders.

It's got a kind of absurd fairy tale feel to it, and the fact that it has a narrator only reinforces that.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to check it out. :)

[lisaquestions.livejournal.com]

The only thing I really dislike is that the central character is an angsty white male protagonist, and the two women who co-star tend to not pass the Bechdel test (although other female characters do).

I want to see more TV that shows women and minorities in central roles, rather than angsty white males, but it seems that Hollywood (stupid Rapunzel/Tangled) views centering white men as "inclusive" and centering anyone else as "excluding white men."

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

I'll see. :) I think without the willingness to deal with the fact that there is going to be an angsty white male and that the Bechdel test will be past by women in minor roles having "Pass the salt - thanks!"- conversations I probably would stop watching TV altogether.

Since women are apparently uninteresting to cinema-goers (I can't find the respective blog entry with the screenwriter commenting on this, but I'm sure you know it), I'm not surprised. I wish someone gave me the budget to produce the awesome series over at isurrendered. :(

[lisaquestions.livejournal.com]

I do know the post you're talking about, and I am often bitter about it. I wish I had enough money to fund the kinds of movies and TV shows that I want to see.

I was kind of surprised to learn the day after I saw the last episode that the lead played Calpernia Addams in Soldier's Girl. I tend to have the rage when I see cis men being cast to play trans women in general, and this wasn't really an exception - but I don't really blame the actor so much as whoever cast him.

But still, the guy's super-tall, like 6'3". IMDB has pictures of him standing next to Calpernia and he just towers over her. It's like, what are they thinking when they make these casting decisions?

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

I didn't see that movie, but googling images, what the hell...? x.X Not surprising, though, from what I remember from former casting decisions; there seems to be some sort of really unhelpful cis casting code at work there that's supposed to cater to the audience. And she probably wouldn't be quite as much of a Tragic character if she were portrayed by a woman? IDGI.

You know, one of my goals as a teacher is to give people a good buillshit detector and the ability to translate apparent movie maker expectations of the intended audience to plain language. Like, "Greetings, dumbfucks! We are transmisogynistic asshats, and we definitely think that you are, too, so we feel confident in assuming that this is going to appeal to you!" - Or, as is the case with all too many movies, "So, my male friends. We hate women - and by women we mean "female people we want to sleep with". We heard you think the same, so we thought we'd make a movie for us!"

[lordhellebore]

Huh, I'm not sure I can tell what the trick is. That's an interesting question.

If you're looking for a fun series, I'm going to recommend psych, although I think you'd have to rent it on DVD (or let me give you DVDs ;)

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Is that the one which is like "Monk", basically? I'll have a look. :)

[lordhellebore]

I don't know Monk so I have no idea. Episode 01 is on youtube, though, so if you want a taste: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhgvoUWqQ-k

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks! Illegal internet TV is so practical. :D

[crocky-wock.livejournal.com]

Go back to good old Intenet TV, shoo!
<3

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Srsly have you watched TV lately...? Male white heterosexual angsty protagonist growing up - ZAP - male white heterosexual angsty protagonist fighting crime - ZAP - male white heterosexual protagonist ... doing stuff while showing that he hates women - ZAP - male white heterosexual angsty and abusive protagonist doing heroic stuff - ZAP - male white heterosexual angsty manchild protagonist hating on his wife - ZAP - male white heterosexual angsty manchild protagonist having adventures with his racially diverse best friend.

OH, unless it's a female protagonist. Female white "eyecandy" heterosexual angsty protagonist having a career until season two, when she remembers women ought to have babies - ZAP - female white "eyecandy" heterosexual angsty protagonist fighting crime and the rising sexual tension with her rugged hetersexual sidekick - ZAP - female white "eyecandy" heterosexual angsty and worryingly thin protagonist being psychic - ZAP ack, to hell with it.

Not to mention that the only LGBT folks on TV there are a.) white and b.) either (supposedly) funny or dead. Or both.

I think the only media that could possibly be worse are opera and graphic novels. Boy am I glad I never got into either of those. <_<

[crocky-wock.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it you who told me that the Nibelungen had LGBT subtext...?

Very lovely, concise summary. Not much different in Hollywood, of course.
*hugs*

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

The only way I can respond to that as an Alto is to tell you to go have a duett with your Tenor, Soprano.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

I don't really watch funny series, except for detective/forensics shows where the characters banter a lot, and so far all of those except Lie to Me (which is less funny, but also the only one where the sexual tension between the two main characters doesn't piss me off and the politics are less O_o-inducing) have done episodes that seriously pissed me off (Bones, for example, has done a lot more with queer characters a lot better than many shows, and has STILL failed spectacularly a couple times).

For the most part, neither MI-5 nor Inspector Lewis has really bugged me, but neither is funny, and MI-5 is big on killing off major characters, and Inspector Lewis is totally about a couple guys, so...I don't know.

Mostly I go for drama over comedy and British over American (although British shows aren't perfect). And I get mad a lot.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I usually stick to British series if I can as well. I ought to give those MI-5 and Inspector Lewis a try. :) Sometimes the series that are about guys only are better.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

MI-5 has really great female characters, I think. The two main characters (I guess?) are guys, but it's really an ensemble show. It's not a gender-balanced ensemble show, but they do well with the female characters they do have. Of course, it's also a spy show, so there have been a certain number of Muslim terrorist storylines--but I think they've handled them in a much more nuanced way than most TV, and there have also been a lot of IRA-etc. terrorist storylines and non-terrorist storylines. That said, as of the last season I watched, both of my favorite female characters were off the team, as was one I liked a lot who kind of vanished for vague reasons. The only major female character left was one who really bugs me; I don't know who they bring on in the season following that. Granted, most of my favorite male characters were also off the team or dead by that point, too! It's that kind of show.

My biggest issue with Inspector Lewis is that the police chief has been somewhat one-dimensional "hard-ass boss who's no fun", and she's one of the two major female characters (the other is a medical examiner and awesome). I think she's getting more character depth, but I'm not sure if she ever gets much. But I do love Lewis and Hathaway, and the show does really well at creating well-paced interesting mysteries that are actually hard to predict and feel really grounded in Oxford (at least to me--I've never been to Oxford, but they feel like that have a strong sense of place). Although it's usually about murders, the focus is very much on motivations and detecting, not on forensics or gore.

[moonystone.livejournal.com]

I'd very much like to be able to recommend anything, but somehow I don't watch funny series. I do watch an awful lot of TV lately, but I stick to crime stuff.

I love the CSI shows, be it Miami, New York or Las Vegas, because it's more about teams than single protagonists. The new CSI LV season could be interesting, what with a female boss and the black newbie.
Bones, Criminal Minds and Crossing Jordan are shows I really like, but here again it's more the team dynamics that fascinate me. Thinking about it, Crossing Jordan does fit perfectly into "female white "eyecandy" heterosexual angsty protagonist fighting crime and the rising sexual tension with her rugged heterosexual sidekick" and Bones could, too, but she is so fascinatingly oblivious to it.

The only series I had to stop watching is Criminal Intent, even though there are various strands of plot with different detectives. But one of them is so annoyingly patronising towards his female partner that I got sick from watching.

So... err... good luck.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

I think I've seen a few episodes of Crossing Jordan, but I couldn't really get into it. Don't know why, though. Might give CSI another try, my mother loves these.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of neutral about the new CSI LV. Even though Catherine is now the boss (as she should be!), Laurence Fishburne's character is clearly the main character. And while he is an interesting character, somewhat similar to Grissom but different, it does kind of bug me that the writers still feel there has to be a guy at the center of the show. I have a lot of issues with the CSI writers and how they treat (and cast) female characters, though.

I think most of the American crimeporn shows have a lot of problematic aspects.

(I did love Crossing Jordan despite its issues, though; I wish it had tied up loose ends better at the end.)

[fennyfen.livejournal.com]

For a funny series, I highly recommend the Office (there's a British version, but I haven't seen it yet - I've only watched the American one).

It's by far the most hilarious TV show I've EVER seen; nothing else has made me lol from start to finish quite like it. It also has a nice variety of characters, both male and female. It makes fun of racism and sexism quite a bit through the "boss" character in the office. He's basically an asshole, haha. xD

As for something more serious (though not by much), I've found Desperate Housewives to be a surprisingly intelligent piece of television. It has extremely interesting main characters who honestly have a lot more dimension than the males in the show. I think you should check it out. (:

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'll try to give that a shot. I used to watch the German spin-off, but didn't find it very entertaining. :D

And I used to watch Desperate Housewives a lot many years ago, but at some point started getting bored with it. Might get back to it.

Thanks!

[bronnyelsp.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I'm recommending it, but based on what you've said, Gray's Anatomy. I love it. It is a multiethnic cast, though, apart from the multiple African American characters, members of other ethnicities tend to feel a bit tokenistic in the main cast, while being very well-represented in cameos as patients/other members of staff who are only needed/encountered on one particular case. The male/female split is decent, and because they're all surgeons or surgeons in training, men and women alike are ambitious, driven, egocentric and competitive.

It's a little less cool on LGTBQQIness. Patients (and in one story, the fathers of a patient) who are not straight/not cis show up and are treated as just another patient (well, it is Seattle, after all), but it takes until series 4 for there to be a main gay character. At that point, a lesbian couple forms, one half of which is Latina. They don't last but the Latina character stays around and stays lesbian -- I won't say much more for fear of major spoilers.

I really enjoy the writing, I find it clever and there are a lot of zingers/one-liners that make me laugh.

On the other hand, it is a ridiculous soap opera, with bed-hopping, an improbable medical scenario in almost every episode and extremely rare cases several times a season, characters themselves succumbing to accident/injury/illness and having to have surgery in the hospital, and generally ridiculous amounts of angst. But I enjoy it.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Crocky and I do watch that show and we used to love it, too. I have a fierce crush on Cristina and Bailey. Still, it seems as there is something in TV that makes series return to the status quo that has a force not unlike gravity.


Spoilers for season six below, tread carefully.


--- SPOILERS ---

Six seaons in, and who's in charge of the hospital? A white man. Who's an alcoholic? The only black man left on the show, the other having conveniently disappeared (though I know the reason for the decision, he's been replaced by two white people). Bailey is reduced to either fussing over the white kids she nursed into doctors or fussing over her budding romance, the bisexual in the show (she slept with Mark to test the waters, remember? I loved that! Bisexuals on telly! Who'd have thought!), Cristina is in a relationship that is horribly unhealthy. Again. Most women - yes, even Cristina, to a certain degree - seem to be a LOT more invested in their relationships than the male characters, who makes plot-relevant decisions is gender- and racially biased, etc., etc.

--- END SPOILERS ---

This series, race- and gender-wise, is like watching someone throw a ball. It rises and rises and then curves and crashes right back to the ground. Or so I fear. I really hope that it goes back to sensible at some point.

Still, it has so many great characters and does make me laugh. I like watching it, but what they've done to Bailey and Cristina has really thrown me. :(

[bronnyelsp.livejournal.com]

I dunno.

--SEASON SIX SPOILERS TO DATE--

Bailey is divorcing her husband against her father's strident objections because she wouldn't give up her career to do exactly what hubby wanted. Yeah, she's entering a new relationship, but on her own (characteristically noisy) terms, and her career continues apace. I don't know if I see Cristina and Owen's relationship as "horribly unhealthy" -- he's got issues she doesn't know how to deal with, but they both (finally) seem aware of that, and they've got Teddy looking in to intervene on occasion. Cristina has told Owen in no uncertain terms he won't "change" her like Burke did and in the last episode, asked if she wanted kids, retorted, "Have you met me? No." So, she's clearly still Cristina.

Callie and Arizona are having real, grown-up relationship problems that are (gasp!) not related to them being a same-sex couple -- the problem is one of them wants kids and the other doesn't! And Callie has stuck up for her new relationship to her father (threatening her with hellfire and priests) with the awesome line, "Jesus is my saviour, Daddy! Not you!"

Who are the two white characters replacing Burke? Confused about that -- there's been a lot of characters in and out since he left, especially in light of the Mercy West influx (ulp -- all white, aren't they?!).

--END SPOILERS--

I agree with you about the Chief thing. It was cool, a few seasons ago, when the Chief was actually thinking of a choosing a new Chief and they were all duking it out, Burke and Addison among the rest. But yeah, they've gone for the white guy. And the black male authority figure is an alcoholic (although, to be fair, so is Meredith's white father). So that particular coup is a step downwards racially.

But on the whole, I think it's pretty good.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

SOILERS ABOUND.

I liked it when Bailey's relationship was working - why can't there ever be a relationship in which the husband takes care of the offspring and doesn't mind terribly that his wife has a career...? I liked that she would rather divorce than compromise who she is, but I hate what her new courting does to her. Somehow, showing her more and more in exclusively nurturing and fussy roles makes her more 3D, but also, because it's become so exclusive, makes her dangerously less the badass Bailey that we know from season 1. But maybe I just miss season 1 Bailey.

Owen and Cristina - ever since the "fuck her into submission"-thing I've been wondering. Good thing that she realised it, but I can't help but wonder why they think it's such a good idea for Owen to be in a relationship at all right now, given his state.

I really like Callie and Arizona and the troubles they face, they're perfect as they are and hopefully will continue with the awesomeness for many episodes to come. <3

The characters replacing Burke in my eyes are Owen, replacing him as Cristina's love interest, and his ex-best-friend-the-heart-surgeon, I can't remember her name, who he brings in as a replacement for Burke-the-heartsurgeon. While I think the relationships of the three are complex and interesting by themselves (I think I ship the three of them a bit) I was sad to see that they are adding even more white people to both the cast and the main plot.

As for the abounding alcoholism - true, there is more than one alcoholic in the show, and I liked that they showed that it was not only a non-doctor-exclusive as well as a problem that's not limited to one race. Maybe I'm being oversensitive, but there seems to be a general trend that keeps moving white people back into the powerful positions and POC back to supporting roles. My heart broke when the chief started working under Derek. :(

END SPOILERS.

Yes, it absolutely is, in spite of the things that rub me the wrong way, there are SO many things that are awesome and right in this show that I wouldn't want to miss it as a source of entertainment. Still, some things do... bug me.

[bronnyelsp.livejournal.com]

why can't there ever be a relationship in which the husband takes care of the offspring and doesn't mind terribly that his wife has a career...?

WORD. I read what I thought was a very encouraging stat this afternoon: houseshusbands in the UK have increased tenfold in the last [can't remember number of years]. Then it became a depressing stats. The number of househusbands is now 6%. That means it WAS 0.6%. ZERO POINT SIX PERCENT. Sweet Jesus on a tricycle.

Owen and Cristina - ever since the "fuck her into submission"-thing I've been wondering. Good thing that she realised it, but I can't help but wonder why they think it's such a good idea for Owen to be in a relationship at all right now, given his state.

On the one hand, I thought it was awesome she called him on that, and in those terms. On the other... yeah... I get you.

The characters replacing Burke in my eyes are Owen, replacing him as Cristina's love interest, and his ex-best-friend-the-heart-surgeon, I can't remember her name, who he brings in as a replacement for Burke-the-heartsurgeon.

OIC. Yes, that makes sense I guess -- they are white people abounding atm.

My heart broke when the chief started working under Derek.

Yes. To be fair, it was supposed to be heart-breaking, but again, yes. The White Man is in charge. >:(

[dstroyrofworlds.livejournal.com]

Not being depressed anymore?
TV remains to be stupid and nasty but when the depression is over and one has gained a better grip on their own life, TV is not powerful enough anymore to spoil moods.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Great tip, that. :P I guess that also goes for all petty annoyances - a healthy enough disposition makes it more likely to stay unfazed - while it won't ruin my mood, I'll probably still be annoyed by it.
Still, I'm looking forward to being healthy enough not to care. Thanks for reminding me of that. :)

[dstroyrofworlds.livejournal.com]

Oh, go online at alluc.com/org(?) an watch
IT-Crowd
Coupling
Black Books
Spaced

They are really good British series.

[krakelwok.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I forgot Spaced. Simon Pegg is close to goldiness!

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Dot org, and thanks, I'll go have a look. :D

[krakelwok.livejournal.com]

I don't even own a TV in my Cologne apartment. I make a living working in TV entertainment and I don't own a TV set.
My reason isn't particularly sophisticated - it's just that I don't see why I should pay up to €20 each month to watch crooning, cousin-impregnating ex-cons and their greasy producers verbally ejaculate their profanity, contempt for even faintly acceptable public behaviour and overall humongous imbecility all over a TV screen while the peasants rejoice.

My all-time TV favourites are, luckily, all on DVD - Star Trek TNG, Futurama, Invader Zim, Jim Henson's The Storyteller, The Simpsons - and I'm darned effin' sure I could have grown to love all the new Doctors Who if Pro Sieben hadn't decided they'd much rather show that jumped-up harpy from Bergisch-Gladbach sell anorexic little girls into slavery.

In short: man kann gar nich' so viel fressen, wie man beim Fernsehen gucken kotzen möchte.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

man kann gar nich' so viel fressen, wie man beim Fernsehen gucken kotzen möchte.
:D True that.

Well, I don't watch TV rather than individual series - still, when did TV get so damn annoying...? Maybe I ought to stick to the KiKa or something. And I guess I'll be annoyed even there (Bratz, oh my).