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I do love Kitchen Nightmares. Today, I watched an episode from the original series where he went to a convent turned restaurant. Disgusting food, incomptent chefs, an owner who doesn't advertise, the whole nine yards. And at the end, he had to do more work because things almost went back to normal!

I was about to write about how I don't watch any tv and focus solely on watching my dvds or playing games if the tv is even on. And then I thought about it. I watch 'Survivor' every second or third season, I watch 'The Apprentice,' and I watch 'Hell's Kitchen.' My perennial favourite is 'The Ultimate Fighter' and a co-worker lured me into watching 'The Biggest Loser' -- which turned out to be far more positive and life-affirming than I would have imagined.

Curses! I'm single-handedly keeping 'Realty TV' (sorry Alyson!) alive!

becs wrote:

I'm with you lily, except its mainly fashion related. I have loads of Project Runway, What Not To Wear, and Queer Eye on Netflix/iTunes.
I also love shows like Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares (maybe its just Gordon Ramsey's accent that I like eh?)

I love Gordon! Never got into Hell's Kitchen - but BBC Kitchen Nightmares is awesome, and the accents definitely make it more fun.

Well yes we have to remind everyone that we do not watch TV because it makes us feel smug and superior over the peons who fill their days watching mindless drivel on the television instead of reading or watching movies. LOL

Actually the same thing happens on many levels, (Well I only watch Discovery Channel, I only watch arthouse movies, I would never read a romance novel, I would not be caught dead driving a ford, etc)

I used to love TV and then Seinfeld went off the air and I lost all reason to watch network TV. I do miss the History channel and MXC occasionally.

Donte77 wrote:

I used to love TV and then Seinfeld went off the air and I lost all reason to watch network TV. I do miss the History channel and MXC occasionally.

There are some great shows on FX, TBS, USA, and TNT however.

If you miss TV, there are websites that have episodes of shows. Hulu.com and fanpop.com are some good sites.

Anyway, back to reality tv:
I wish it were called something else. I watch truTV sometimes and their slogan is "not reality. actuality". Although, they are referring to real-life stuff.

I dont care what anyone has to say about me but I watch Top Chef and I fucking love it. Its an amazing show that is completely unlike all that other reality tv bullshit. The reason this is never going to go away is because of American Idol...I hate American Idol. Rob and Big is really funny too. That is prerry much my list of good reality tv, Top Chef and Rob and Big.

Although for some reason whenever I watch Top Chef I get really hungry...I don't know what it is

lillylovelost wrote:

There are some great shows on FX, TBS, USA, and TNT however.

So true...I love Monk and Burn Notice, fantastic shows, plus they have new epsioes of Law and Order CI, my favorite one. And FX has The Shield which is very good. TNT has the closer which is exceptional as well.

TBS has House of Payne on it, so I cannot for the life of me say anything good about that network other then they show re runs of Family Guy and Home Improvement

now that this has become a tv-appreciation thread, here are my 2 cents:

besides reruns (think: Simpsons), there's still a few good shows out there:

30 Rock
Always Sunny in Philadelphia
South Park
Family Guy
Conan O'Brien
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Flight of the Conchords (despite being a blatant tenacious d ripoff)

Adult Swim is great in low-doses (but i miss the days of Space Ghost, Cowboy Bebop, and Dr. Katz / Home Movies)...Lost is fun, but it's crap.. same with Burn Notice (especially if you're a diehard Bruce Campbell stalker like me).... The Office is great--but it doesn't have the best rewatchability.. and then there's always SNL--which is still worth watching for the digital shorts, the news, and one or two funny sketches if you're lucky..

Speaking of TV, and specifically Lost.... I spent a few hours at Borders this afternoon and came across an intriguing title: Getting Lost a series of essays from many different people on what exactly is going on in the Lost world. That in and of itself is not remarkable, however its edited by ORSON SCOTT CARD! The same (fucking brilliant) author of the Ender's Game series. He must feel pretty strongly about Lost.

No love for Weeds?? Probably one of my favorite shows right now.

Also:

30 Rock
Heroes
The Office
Aliens in America (before it got cancelled

Run's House
The Real World (whenever they have a good season)

As far as reality tv goes, I don't really watch it like that. I catch The Soup, which is about the best reality tv ever (at least it has clips of reality shows).

I don't mind reality TV being on TV because there's literally thousands of channels and it's easy to either turn the channel or the better choice, not watch TV at all.

It's cheap to program and easy viewing, which is the reason most people watch TV in the first place. So, I have no qualms with it.

I just have a problem with reality TV seeping into cinemas, like years ago with New Line released "The Real Cancun" when there's no scripts, no actors, no plot, just cameras following around some attractive people - that were casted (and are now actors) - around Spring Break in Cancun. This is not a documentary, but reality TV somehow thinking it's relevant enough to play over and over again in cinemas? I somehow think that cinemas should be put on a higher plane than TV. But, like in all things I think TV is brought back up with quality programming like "Lost", "24", "Grey's Anatomy", "Mad Men", and other shows that have a sometimes huge budget, but is really done well.

There are some reality TV shows that I think are useful and entertaining. I just wish networks wouldn't rely totally on reality-TV as its savior for not greenlighting more creative ideas and shows that are more expensive and more of a chance. I mean, "American Dog"...? C'mon CBS? No wonder they had 4 "C.S.I."s.

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