It's the End of the World as We Know It and I Feel Fine

As you may have already read before, If I am going to watch television I am much more likely to watch something on a Cable/Satellite network than the traditional triumvirate.  Traditional networks like ABC CBS NBC and even FOX  have some o.k. offerings to get us through the "dark at 4 p.m. so I I can't go outside in the cold and might as well sit down with a cozy blanket in my pajama mama pants and see whats on tv winter months" , but I still think cable is where it's at.  Some of my favorite channels include the History Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Animal Planet, A&E, FX, AMC,  BBC etc. (warning the ID channel may turn you into a serial killer... 24/7/365 of death and depravity.... you can only watch murder so much before you want to commit it yourself, just remember they always get caught).  Anyway, these wonderful networks, some of which are owned by the majors, have some really great offerings in an otherwise reality TV infested and bad sitcom world.  By the way, what ever happened to originality and imagination?  Is is necessary to recycle EVERYTHING, even the garbage, from decades past? Recycled garbage is still garbage people. This goes for television and cinema as well! Really,  was it inspiration that led to the making of Dark Shadows into a Movie (I was hopeful but sorely disappointed) ? And let us not forget the debacles of Starsky & Hutch, SWAT, and Dukes of Hazards in their cinematic unGlory (oh how I wish I could forget).   Not every 70's and 80's sitcom needs to be relaunched or made into a movie.  Truly, Please. 

I must be fighting ADD today, o.k.  Focus Lisa.   

For every lump of coal introduced on television, there are a few scant pearls to be found on Network TV.  Fox has few, Raising Hope and New Girl.  ABC has Modern Family. But my interest usually take me to the non traditional cable/satellite stations.    

I do however, have some pet peeves aimed at the documentary channels.  How about basing the shows targeted as historical or documentary on “Actual” historical facts or "Genuine" science?  I understand that there is some need to speculate due to the lack of recorded and documented historical facts. However, I find it really incredibly annoying when an entire 2 hour shown on how the earth is going to end in , oh I don’t know, in possibly 2 million more years, is presented as genuine science and plausibility.  This is Science FICTION,  it’s all hypothetical but they get really great voice actors like Morgan Freeman or James Earl Jones to narrate with such serious tones that the spin of  their wild tale convinces the gullible viewer of its reality.  I am certain someone out there is panicking and building a bomb shelter in their back yard in order to survive the impending doom of an asteroid hit. You know I'm right.

Though they might have some entertainment value, shows about life after man, or postulating on how the earths end will happen, are all theoretical and some are not even based on good theory.  Giant asteroids, planet wide volcanoes and earthquakes, a giant dark hole of anti-matter, the next ice age,  haven't I seen these in a movie?  Oh yes, Armageddon, The Day after Tomorrow, 2012,  THESE are not FACTUAL.  

Guess what,  we don't really know what dinosaurs liked to play together, or why they all suddenly died. We don't really know what the atmosphere on Jupiter or Venus are like, we've never been and have no real scientific evidence.  It's all hypothesis and imagination.  I guess its more believable if Sigourney Weaver tells you it is because she DID do those Alien movies. 

I love a good documentary, like the one on graffiti artist Banksy.  Fascinating!  But sell it for what it is, truth or fiction.  Don't confuse the two.