The last good shows on network TV | The Boneyard

The last good shows on network TV

ZooCougar

ZooCougar

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In my opinion were House and The Office. Parks and Recreation wasn’t as funny as The Office but it could be considered in this category.
 
You talking of just the big Four networks?
 
There’s tons of good stuff on AMC, FX and USA. The Terror, Taboo, Mr. Robot, etc.
 
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The first couple of seasons of Last Man on Earth were good.

If you are looking at technicalities the Simpsons are still on network TV.
 
whaler11 said:
The first couple of seasons of Last Man on Earth were good.

If you are looking at technicalities the Simpsons are still on network TV.
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Shame it got canceled, sounded like they had one more season planned out to finish it off too.

In addition to the shows already mentioned, only Superstore and Brooklyn 99 stand out for me. Modern Family is still pretty funny too. But that’s it, all comedies. The dramas they’ve got are all junk. Never been a big procedural or hospital/police/fire drama person.
 
Lethal Weapon was fantastic until they canned the guy playing Riggs.

There are some "good" shows, it's great shows that are lacking.
 
There are some decent shows on network tv. I agree with those mentioned. I'd add that Modern Family was great in the beginning. I think one of the reasons network shows struggle a bit is: i) if they get off to a slow start they may get cancelled whereas if on Netflix, the whole season is up and cable stations will often give a show a couple seasons to get its legs. ii) Similar to (i) shows on Netflix will often be in your face every time you log on. If a network show gets a tough time slot, it's over before it started. iii) Popular network tv shows seem to stay on multiple years too long until they decide to cancel them and they try again for one more year. That taints their legacy a bit. That's true of The Office and Parks and Rec, Seinfeld, Modern Family and others. iv) Finally, networks (and some cable stations/shows) are going to have to change their models. My family (my kids in particular) have gotten used to the Netflix/Prime binge practice. We just can't sit through the commercials and if we don't think to season-pass something on the DVR we're just not going to sit through the "the ability to fast forward has been disabled on this program."

I like The Goldbergs because I'm a Jew that grew up in the 80s (i.e., it's about my life), but I feel it's already hit the wall. That being said, my wife and I are going as Big Tasty and Bev for Halloween.
 
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Fresh Off the Boat is pretty good too, but that might be because of my infatuation with Constance Wu.
 
I am beginning to dislike Netflix more than I dislike the networks. There is virtually no quality control on Netflix.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
I am beginning to dislike Netflix more than I dislike the networks. There is virtually no quality control on Netflix.
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They need to have sub-genres or something so that you know if/when you are getting too deep into some art-house $hite. I watched the "The Land of Steady Habits" which I knew was going to be indie, but it simply had no tether to reality whatsoever. They used a teen OD-ing as a plot device for the midlife crisis. The morale of the story was not extending the easiest & most basic courtesy to another human being or a family you've known forever is ok if 'ennui' is everywhere, its part of your story arc and you end up trying a tiny bit harder with your teenage children.
 
My billion dollar idea I can’t believe doesn’t exist is Netflix shuffle. So I’ve seen ever episode of the office 30 times and I just wanna watch a random episode and don’t feel like searching and picking. I should be able to shuffle and have Netflix pick a random episode.
 
I like The Good Doctor. I expected that the premise would run out of gas fairly quickly, but it has held up.

New Amsterdam is getting buzz. I watched the 2nd one and it was just okay.
 
CL82 said:
I like The Good Doctor. I expected that the premise would run out of gas fairly quickly, but it has held up.

New Amsterdam is getting buzz. I watched the 2nd one and it was just okay.
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My wife is a nurse and I’m a special ed teacher. We tried to watch the Good Doctor but we were both so annoyed by inaccuracies on both the medical and ASD sides of the narrative
 
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I started watching Manifest from NBC. It’s I think only 3 or 4 episodes in and has a very strange premise. A plane experiences extreme turbulence and when it lands it’s 5 years later and no one onboard has aged a day but somehow have acquired superpowers. I’m not sure what to make of it yet. I doubt it lasts more than a season. Pretty engrossing so far though.
 
Dream Jobbed 2.0 said:
I started watching Manifest from NBC. It’s I think only 3 or 4 episodes in and has a very strange premise. A plane experiences extreme turbulence and when it lands it’s 5 years later and no one onboard has aged a day but somehow have acquired superpowers. I’m not sure what to make of it yet. I doubt it lasts more than a season. Pretty engrossing so far though.
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That sounds promising. I'd guess some use powers randomly, most for own benefit & gradually a good v evil line is drawn. And overall powers all used sloppily ala The Greatest American Hero
 
Dream Jobbed 2.0 said:
I started watching Manifest from NBC. It’s I think only 3 or 4 episodes in and has a very strange premise. A plane experiences extreme turbulence and when it lands it’s 5 years later and no one onboard has aged a day but somehow have acquired superpowers. I’m not sure what to make of it yet. I doubt it lasts more than a season. Pretty engrossing so far though.
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I watched the first two episodes. Was hoping for something sci-fi along the lines of Lost or Fringe. Unfortunately its pretty clear that they decided to go with the god/spiritual angle. What completely killed it though was how insignificant the event was to the rest of the world. I mean these people go missing, arrive in their plane 5 years later completely unchanged, and go home to deal with their lives as if nothing happened? The show is moving way too fast
 
quacktalker said:
I watched the first two episodes. Was hoping for something sci-fi along the lines of Lost or Fringe. Unfortunately its pretty clear that they decided to go with the god/spiritual angle. What completely killed it though was how insignificant the event was to the rest of the world. I mean these people go missing, arrive in their plane 5 years later completely unchanged, and go home to deal with their lives as if nothing happened? The show is moving way too fast
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My family is watching. I'm still on the fence. Seems like someone had an idea while watch Lost, the Leftovers, and news coverage about Malasia Air MH370 and then tried to put together a show.

Interesting that you were hoping for sci-fi like Lost when that turned out to be all god/spritual. Fringe was totally underrated though. I'm not seeing god/spiritual based upon the latest episode. The most interesting part is the dichotomy between the families that grieved / moved on vs. the passengers that felt no change, but lost 5 years. As usual with tv though, everyone just keeps their feelings to themselves and they just use it as a device to cause tension.
 
Chuck said:
Interesting that you were hoping for sci-fi like Lost when that turned out to be all god/spritual.
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Haha true. Lost did a better job of playing the spiritual game without getting too sappy...that is until the end which I hated.
Chuck said:
The most interesting part is the dichotomy between the families that grieved / moved on vs. the passengers that felt no change, but lost 5 years
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I agree, it presents an extraordinary situation that I felt the characters had very mundane, unbelievable responses to.
 
quacktalker said:
I watched the first two episodes. Was hoping for something sci-fi along the lines of Lost or Fringe. Unfortunately its pretty clear that they decided to go with the god/spiritual angle. What completely killed it though was how insignificant the event was to the rest of the world. I mean these people go missing, arrive in their plane 5 years later completely unchanged, and go home to deal with their lives as if nothing happened? The show is moving way too fast
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Yeah it’s pretty ridiculous. It’s way all over the place. Not sure if I’m gonna stick with it
 
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quacktalker said:
I watched the first two episodes. Was hoping for something sci-fi along the lines of Lost or Fringe. Unfortunately its pretty clear that they decided to go with the god/spiritual angle. What completely killed it though was how insignificant the event was to the rest of the world. I mean these people go missing, arrive in their plane 5 years later completely unchanged, and go home to deal with their lives as if nothing happened? The show is moving way too fast
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Sounds like Heroes.
 
Re:Manifest like they kind of gloss over the kid going to school (for now at least). That’s gotta be weird . All the kids he was in school with a week ago are now 5 years older. His old BFF shows up to bang the sister and the Dad’s like cool you’re 15 you wanna play fort nite with this 10 year old?


Just one of the WTF things I wonder if they’ll really address or just be like nah god saved these people and now they have super powers.
 
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