Can we please have FRESH ideas for TV shows???- Page 2

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 12:48am

This Spring immediately following "Going Postal", NBC brings you the true story of one woman's (Maura Tierney) struggle to bring gay rights to her small Amish community after falling in love with her best friend, Velda Haussenfuss (Nicollette Sheridan) as she discovers the prejudice that comes with finding yourself and believing in the power of love. Also starring Mario Lopez as Jebediah, the young man left to pick up the pieces after his fiance Velda's shocking confession.
Updated On: 8/13/09 at 12:48 AM

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 1:00am

Actually, I think there are many fresh ideas, but those shows are never successful. I think people keep doing cop and hospital shows because they think that is what people like. Shows with unique settings usually get cancelled. Actually, it's any show I like gets cancelled (Pushing Daisies, Men In Trees, Samantha Who)

Good shows are no longer given a chance unless they hit the airwaves as a hit. All the fresh writing is the first to go.....

[dramadude2]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 1:20am

How about a show where Alice Ripley just says things.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 1:24am

i second that dramadude. Alice Ripley should be given a weekly show to just muse about whatever strikes her fancy. I would tune in.

[Plum]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 1:55am

Studio 60 actually came out in the same season as 30 Rock. The better show survived.

Anyway, offhand, just in the past few years, I can think of a show that's half-centered on an electronics store, one about a paranormal temp agency, and one about a guy who runs a pie shop. Of course, two of those three got cancelled because I'm a show-killer. :) But hey, they happened. And even something as tired as the cop show or the hospital show can have fresh ideas - it's not the what that matters; it's the how. And the setting isn't half the "what" in the first place.

That said, of course most of the new pilots in any given season are going to be clichéd pap. Welcome to Hollywood! But at least most of them will get culled by the next year - not necessarily the right ones, but room will be cleared for the next cycle of possibilities. I really do think that television as a medium is full of great storytelling, originality, and risk-taking right now. Not everywhere, certainly, but it feels like even the main networks are willing to try out new things and value the artistically lauded a whole lot more than the main movie studios are.

(The subject matter/settings of other shows I've been watching recently: A space alien who travels in time and space in a British police box, an ad agency in the 60s, a fantastical Asian-amalgam universe, two underemployed musicians slacking in NYC, a middle-aged journalist fighting aliens in the suburbs of London, a paper company in Scranton...need I go on?)
Updated On: 8/13/09 at 01:55 AM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 2:18am

Yes, Alice Ripley in "Rubber Room".

[bethnor]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 4:46pm

ER was not even close to what it's like in a hospital (funny how OB/GYN was never present for any OB/GYN emergencies--those ER docs sure are versatile!). don't get me started on house.

that's okay, no medical show is.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 4:54pm

^M*A*S*H (according to several people I know who were in Korea and Vietnam) was pretty true to life in a lot of cases.

Does anyone else wish Cop Rock had stuck around? I do.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 5:02pm

Well, there was that awful show with Geena Davis, Commander in Chief. That sort of only further exemplifies the brilliance of The West Wing, though.

There was also "Hail to Chief" in the 80s starring Patty Duke as the lady president!

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 5:22pm

Cruise ship has been done, twice! The Love Boat ...

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 6:35pm

Not to mention Oh Susanna! .... damn did I just show my age?

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 6:56pm

How about Love Boat the Next Wave? Or how about a show dealing with the interworkings backstage at a teen drama? Gross Pointe.

[Jim Colyer]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 9:03pm

TV is dead. Been dead for 25 years.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 9:05pm

TV is alive and well. It's songwriting that died...

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 11:36pm

The problem with television is there is so much money involved these days that the networks want to go with what is tried and true. Much like songwriters who write stuff that sounds like it has been done before.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/14/09 at 12:00am

They should do a show about stage actors in a long running Broadway show...dont they all get enmeshed, bang each other, drink/smoke alot, talk trash, and have meltdowns. That might be a hit.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/14/09 at 9:33am

God i miss the West Wing