Grudgematch: 80's TV vs Modern TV
Okay, so it's not quite a new month, but I felt like doing this one. It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of 80's television, I think it rocks. However, what is slightly less well known is it's not only because its hilariously funny at times...
The thing I discovered about 80's TV is it's so much more innocent than modern day TV. Today you get the obvious swearing, you get the violence and are always gripped with dramatic tragedy. TV in the 80's was fun. It really didn't care about common sense and explanations, you want a car to talk; fine! You want to make a rocket launcher out of a bed and Mr T's belt buckle; Done! Let's have another episode where they face their evil twin; Okay, so that one's still hilarous. The point is, they never cared about explaining or making to much sense, they just existed for fun. Rarely would an episode suprise you, the A-team was so formaliac it was quite funny. It would go "Car Chase, Someone needs help, They help, Have fist/gun fight, blow some shit up, have a car chase, the end." pretty much every time. Fantastic or what!?
You can also see the innocent thing on other levels to. I'm actually gonna draw a parellel to LOTR's here. The one joke that really makes Knight Rider funny is the whole "KITT and Michael are gay" thing which makes it so laughable to watch. But it's the same as Sam and Frodo, it shows an old friendship which we no longer understand because of our own paranoia. An old buddy style relationship we can no longer understand, and sure, the jokes are hilarious (no offence to any gays out there, but being gay with your car is a pretty hilarious idea) but it also supports my theory that we've lost the innocence in our modern culture. Hell, it's the same with everything needing to be explained. They stuffed that in old TV shows as well, "Why did the evil KITT explode when it fell off a cliff but now it's back?" Who cares, if you have fun watching it? Imagine them doing that today!
What do we get on most modern TV? Slow paced dramas and so called 'intelligent' plot lines. Intelligent plot lines!? Who wants intelligent plot lines!? Seeing KITT and David Hasselhoff square off with David Hasselhoff in a fake moustache and giant truck is far funnier, and more fun! And at the end of the day, I'll take fun TV over dramatic TV anyday! Even if it's so cheesy its funny, I actually ENJOY the shows beyond the cheesy funniness, which not many people realise.
So in conclusion: Modern TV trips over before it reaches the ring and breaks it's own leg. During attempting recovery, it shoots itself in the foot. 80's TV wins by default.
The thing I discovered about 80's TV is it's so much more innocent than modern day TV. Today you get the obvious swearing, you get the violence and are always gripped with dramatic tragedy. TV in the 80's was fun. It really didn't care about common sense and explanations, you want a car to talk; fine! You want to make a rocket launcher out of a bed and Mr T's belt buckle; Done! Let's have another episode where they face their evil twin; Okay, so that one's still hilarous. The point is, they never cared about explaining or making to much sense, they just existed for fun. Rarely would an episode suprise you, the A-team was so formaliac it was quite funny. It would go "Car Chase, Someone needs help, They help, Have fist/gun fight, blow some shit up, have a car chase, the end." pretty much every time. Fantastic or what!?
You can also see the innocent thing on other levels to. I'm actually gonna draw a parellel to LOTR's here. The one joke that really makes Knight Rider funny is the whole "KITT and Michael are gay" thing which makes it so laughable to watch. But it's the same as Sam and Frodo, it shows an old friendship which we no longer understand because of our own paranoia. An old buddy style relationship we can no longer understand, and sure, the jokes are hilarious (no offence to any gays out there, but being gay with your car is a pretty hilarious idea) but it also supports my theory that we've lost the innocence in our modern culture. Hell, it's the same with everything needing to be explained. They stuffed that in old TV shows as well, "Why did the evil KITT explode when it fell off a cliff but now it's back?" Who cares, if you have fun watching it? Imagine them doing that today!
What do we get on most modern TV? Slow paced dramas and so called 'intelligent' plot lines. Intelligent plot lines!? Who wants intelligent plot lines!? Seeing KITT and David Hasselhoff square off with David Hasselhoff in a fake moustache and giant truck is far funnier, and more fun! And at the end of the day, I'll take fun TV over dramatic TV anyday! Even if it's so cheesy its funny, I actually ENJOY the shows beyond the cheesy funniness, which not many people realise.
So in conclusion: Modern TV trips over before it reaches the ring and breaks it's own leg. During attempting recovery, it shoots itself in the foot. 80's TV wins by default.
posted by Li at 4:19 PM
1 Comments:
A-level english, not A-level maths. Means I can spell maths words wrong.
Sadly the DVD does not have Hasselhoff with a fake moustache...but I couldn't resist taping that off the TV when I saw it (it makes a shocking case against 80's TV being good, but does make it hilarious) so you can borrow whatever vid I taped it on if I can find it.
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