Network Television’s Decline

You're listening to Gamecast Radio on GamecastRadio

.com Hello and welcome to the GeekCast Radio

Network. Oops, that's the old script. Hello and

welcome to GeekCast Radio, the flagship show

of the GeekCast Radio Network. Today is a discussion

on why and how network television has gone down

the tubes. I am your host, DFG1Mike, and I am

joined by Booth Ninja. Hello. Hello. And as usual,

Steve Megatron. Hello. Yes. I got the idea for

this because... There's so many shows on TV now

that I just can't stand. Heroes being won, Supernatural

being won, let's see, Lost. OK. See where I'm

going with this? You know, there's just so much

like I can count on one hand how many TV shows

I actually watch on either NBC ABC Fox or CBS

24 and CIS smallville Gossip Gossip Girl and

the Big Bang Theory. That's five shows. That's

it CW is not even broadcast television. Well

They're close enough, but you get the point though

So that's where the idea for this episode came

about You know it's like And on top of that all

these damn vampire and werewolf shows There's

one that I know of two that I know of and they're

actually both pretty good vampire diaries and

true blood Exactly. Yeah, I like both of them

If I want to watch a vampire show I'm gonna watch

either Buffy or angel I'm not gonna watch either

one of those even though I am a big fan of Joss

Whedon, but primarily only for firefly Well,

you know I gathered information from wiki just

to you know kind of really prove my own point

the fact that The shows that I used to watch

when I was younger like Cheers Family Ties Knight

Rider, Airwolf, A -Team Magnum, MacGyver You

know, the Cosby show, there used to be a whole

lot of good TV on. And now, at least in my own

opinion, there is nothing that I'm interested

in that the networks are currently running outside

of the ones that I already said. Well, TV for

me went down the tubes when reality TV came about.

And reality TV came about, it started to get

into my little... I have to clarify, before 2004,

TV was almost non -existent to me. I watched

TV, but I had no idea what a season was. I couldn't

tell you the difference between a season finale

and a series finale. That all changed in 2004

when I actually, ABC Family actually picked up

the rights to redistribute Smallville. and I

started watching, Smallville was actually the

first TV show I started watching from the beginning

and that's because ABC Family was playing them,

they had like a freaking marathon where they

played like every season up to I think season

four, like over an entire weekend or something

like that. And that's, I got hooked on the show

from there and then I started watching it on

a weekly basis and then I just started like picking

up shows. I think it went like Smallville and

then I picked up On it believe it or not. I picked

up the first only the first season of desperate

housewives I made it like three episodes into

the second season. I'm like I'm done I think

I made it to the end of the second season of

that show, but after that I was done Well, but

going back to what I said before like you know

before that TV I didn't really get the whole

idea behind TV that I didn't get like some errors

at certain times and it's not on every week and

stuff like that, but TV went on a decline for

me after home improvement Left the air and right

about that time for some reason to me it seemed

like That's when reality TV started taking off

Well reality TV actually got launched at least

here in America in the year 2000 with Survivor

and Big Brother they were the first two reality

shows that you could choose from And I'm sorry,

I'm not gonna watch a show with giant bugs and

creepy -crawly things and people out in the fucking

wilderness. I'm just not. So I gravitated to

Big Brother. And I have watched, I think, every

season of that show up until the last couple

ones I haven't really paid attention to. You

know, but reality TV is pretty much taken over,

which sucks. I can safely say I have not watched

one iota of reality television I refuse I cannot

because Whether it's like scripted or not. Mm

-hmm. That's up for debate. It's piss poor television

You know what's up with all these reality shows

that are about people like like the Osborne's

and the Hogan's and mr. T and Well, that's all

in TV Well, even even so reality TV is just a

cop -out for coming up with new original ideas.

It's It's just their way of oh that's put something

on TV that people will watch because there's

nothing else on TV If they need a filler in midseason

and they don't have something sitting on the

back burner They will make something up and the

big the big studio behind that is the studio

I hate the most and that is Fox You know, the

uh... Oh, what was I gonna say? Um... Crap, I

can't remember now. I don't know. Um, you know,

there's been very few reality shows that I will

watch. I so don't get the appeal of American

Idol whatsoever. I watched the first season and

after that I was done. Well, quite frankly, that

show is pretty much dead. Well, yeah. Oh, I know

what I was gonna say. Um, all these uh... These

TV remakes, I just did, I just covered two news

articles on This Week in Geek's nerd news network

that's out now. You can go over to thisweekingeek

.net to get that. Or you can get it off of our

homepage, geekcastradio .com. But I did two news

articles about the fact that they're remaking

Hawaii 5 -0 and the Rockford Files. Is it Hawaii

5 -0 being made into a movie? No, it's been being

made for CBS television. Is it? There's nobody

big behind it, though. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto

Orsi are writing it, and they are producing it.

That's fine. They can do no wrong, in my opinion.

Go ahead, Steve. I was going to say, since the

Star Trek movie, they've actually done pretty

well. Anyone that collaborates in or around J

.J. Abrams Circle can do no wrong. True and speaking

of JJ Abrams circle another great television

show that happened in 2001 which I had no idea

They wrote on it until I started doing a series

marathon was alias I had no idea Kurt's of course

before the Transformers movies. I never knew

who the fuck they were anyway But I mean since

their fame off of Transformers and Star Trek

when I was going back and watching alias I saw

they had written a few episodes in season 2 of

alias Wait, I can't get into that show Your girlfriend

can though can't she she hasn't she hasn't watched

where I've downloaded but she doesn't get a chance

to watch a lot of TV, but I Can't it doesn't

there's nothing in that show that hooks me. I

don't know what it is What is my possible three

was a much better alias than that was What about

you Steve As for like modern TV, pretty much

all I watch is heroes hoping that it'll actually

go back to the greatness that season one had,

which so far, yeah, so far nothing's happened.

I can't agree with you on season one. Well, season

one was all right. I mean, the whole series has

kind of been up and down roller coaster -ish.

It's not so much that season one was good. It

was just that it was... more they had a direction

whereas now it's just every which way well I

really like season four the best because I first

of all I just want to say I eat up any scene

with Siler oh yeah I will stop whatever I'm doing

and I will focus my attention on just that man

and the minute he steps off scene my attention

is gone elsewhere I won't pay attention to anything

else Well, he's pretty much the show if you don't

have him the show kind of just bland and sucks,

but they it's um I had this problem. I had with

heroes is the same problem. I have a smallville

and They neither one of them has the budget to

show me what I want to see Yeah, don't even get

me started on smallville cuz that that's probably

gonna eventually be its own episode on this podcast

but smallville my overall opinion of the show

now they just need to put in the fucking costume

in the show well but they can't it's going to

come season or night season well that's what

i was not yet it's getting a ten season but that's

what i'm saying next year ten season put in the

fucking costume given ten episodes and end the

fucking show not just wait just wait david gore

chris nolan and jonathan nolan will put him in

the superman movie and probably but uh... But

the thing is though the whole premise behind

smallville when it originally aired when Alfred

Goff and Miles Miller started it was the young

adventures or the teenage adventures of Clark

Kent with him growing up going through You know

earth style puberty with superpowers. He's not

a fucking teenager anymore They either need to

put him in the costume and end the show or change

the name of the show to metropolis or Or, I don't

know, something other, you know, Lois and Clark,

The Adventures of Superman Part Deux or something,

I don't know. I understand why he won't put the

suit on, but even if he did put the suit on,

the show still doesn't have the money to show

me what I want to see. Sure. Anyways, Steve,

you were talking about your shows. But pretty

much the only other show I watch that's new.

Other than heroes, which is on its break is supernatural

Which I've liked this show since the beginning

it's just that now it's turning to drag on and

then at the same time They're talking about another

About having a sixth season when supposedly they're

going to Defeat Lucifer in season five, which

makes you wonder. Okay, what's next if you kill?

Lucifer Yeah, well that that's what they're kind

of leading up to considering he's nowhere to

be found But at the same time I kind of get sick

of watching this show just because Every other

like you watch three episodes and then the CW

has it on a month month and a half long break

and That's the same thing was gossip girl. Well,

I mean I just get tired of it on CW because I

at this point I just rather wait until it comes

on a DVD true Just because they keep putting

so many damn holes in between it whereas heroes

pretty much runs consistently on through Might

have like a month gap for a holiday season and

then it's back whereas supernatural had a two

-month gap in between and Then played like three

or four episodes and now they're on another month

-long gap and so they'll be back at the end of

the month so I don't know just network television

in general just kind of sucks and how they play

any new show True other than when it's the reality

TV because that's where they're putting all their

focus because it's cheap I think in 2004 is when

2004 was when I really started watching game

shows again, obviously with Ken Jennings attaining

celebrity status after 74 game winning streak

on Jeopardy I Hadn't watched Jeopardy in probably

eight years before this happened Ever watch an

episode? You know teach their own I you know

I just remember growing up with my grandmother

and my grandfather watching Wheel of Fortune

and Jeopardy because I used to come on every

night 7 p .m. And 7 30 p .m. Eastern so It's

one of those nostalgic things I guess I I think

personally for me I Had that two thousand words

when I got in really into TV But I also think

that's when it started to took it TV started

to take a turn Especially ABC For the most part.

I mean they I mean they came out of nowhere with

uh desperate housewives and lost and just it

Like I I stopped watching desperate housewives

so I can't really speak about it, but I just

watched all five seasons of lost in like a month.

Yeah, and First of all, i'm going to say that

anybody that's known with that show from the

beginning Feel for them because there's no way

that I could I I'm having trouble right now when

it's in its sixth and final season I'm having

trouble watching it on a weekly basis I would

have like killed myself Trying to watch that

show on a weekly basis. Yeah, I was able to I

was able to watch it All five seasons straight

through in like a month and it is probably The

best definition of episodic An episodic story

arc or what what have you in a TV show that I

have ever seen? Because it doesn't treat you

like an idiot If you it is literally the definition

of a TV show that if you miss an episode you

are fucked Mm -hmm, so and I I enjoy that I like

intelligent TV like that and that's one of the

problems I have with heroes is that the first

15 minutes is recapping the last episode. The

last 15 minutes is recapping the episode you

just saw, which gives you 15 minutes of a story,

but you're getting, and then they just repeat

that over and over and over. So you're only getting

15 minutes of forward movement in every episode.

Let's see, I'm going to have to time, I'm going

to have to watch next Monday night, I'm going

to have to watch, we're recording this on Tuesday

the 9th or Wednesday the 10th, whatever you want

to call it, but next Monday night I'm going to

have to watch 24 and time those intro outros

where they show the previously on and like the

recap of the episode, because 24 does that as

well. I think they do it a lot better. There's

a difference in a recap. Heroes to me doesn't

recap anything. There's a recap where it's 30

seconds of just stuff that you need to know.

Loss does that. There's 30 seconds of stuff that

you need to know and sometimes they'll go way

back to season one stuff and you're in season

four. And that's fine. But I'm saying loss is

a literal recap of the episode you just watched

on top of... stuff that they're bringing in from

other it's just a it there's not a lot of forward

movement in loss not lost heroes and that's one

of the things that really bothers me about the

show see I I will never watch heroes because

I come from the aspect of I've seen the X -Men

films I don't need to see the X -Men films done

even worse than they already are especially on

network television And if I want like a copycat

mutant show, I'll watch mutant next before I

ever watch heroes Did you just take a jab at

Bryan stinger? Yes, I did And I'm pretty much

referring to the fact that you know x2 was fine

x1 was great, but you know, it's like After a

while, I don't even when we covered him in wire.

I don't even think I actually watched the way

through all three of those films well x -men

3 singer had nothing to do with that I know I

know that I didn't say he did but So basically

I'm taking a jab at heroes more than more than

singer because if like I said if I want an x

-men You know TV or movie type of experience

I'll watch the x -men films before I ever watch

heroes because all heroes is as a copycat of

x -men Kind of I started watching Heroes because

of Ali Larder, but I stayed for Zaffrey Quinto.

That's strange. Hey, like I said, he steals the

show. He steals anything he's in. He just has

that awesome presence. He does, and the guy actually,

someone told me he actually directed some episodes

of Lizzie McGuire. Probably. Like I don't know

if that's true because I never looked it up somebody

told me that he did You know, it's funny Again

with this whole episode that you know me coming

from the fact that I very rarely watch network

TV anymore The two channels I watch all the time

are HGTV and the Disney Channel. That's it Because

Cartoon Network now is going live -action, which

they really can't call it a Cartoon Network anymore

if they're going to show nothing but destroy,

build, destroy. Bastards. I only ever watched

Adult Swim, and that started acting live -action

content a long time ago. Yeah. I don't even watch

Cartoon Network. I see it as a failed network

in my opinion. The only reason I watch it is

because of that show, Superhero Squad. Never

heard of it It's basically an updated take on

the Marvel characters. Oh, you know what I have

to Speaking since we're talking about TV shows

and we started talking about Cartoon Network.

I have to admit There is I'm gonna use air quotes

here. There is one reality television show that

I have watched It is called Total Drama Island.

Oh god. No, no, no No, I I know I'm not I'm not

saying it as a bad thing. Go ahead, but I'm not

I have watched it from beginning to end. And

I'm not ashamed to admit, a lot of shows that

I, if I'm watching TV, I'm usually on my computer

at the same time. And shows end up being like

a background, like a soundtrack to what I'm doing.

And I would, you know, I'd be on my computer

and told Drama Island would come on, I would

watch the episode, I would listen to the episode

that was on and... I heard the cartoon, I'm watching

Cartoon Network and I hear an animated character

say boobies. And I look up at my TV and there

are pixelated boobs on my TV screen. And I was

like, that's it, I'm watching this show. And

I went online and I downloaded the entire thing.

I watched it from beginning to end. It is a great

parody of reality television. It's kind of a

shame that it's a Canadian cartoon that gets

re -aired on Cartoon Network. So if you know

where to look on the internet, it can be spoiled

for you because the actors that did the voice

actors had to sign non -disclosure agreements

to not talk about who wins the contest while

it aired. So it was, it really was like a reality,

I mean it was scripted reality television, which

made it great, but it was like a parody in and

of itself in the fact that you didn't know who

won, but if like, when it was airing on Cartoon

Network you could go online and already find

out who won. But Cartoon Network did their best

to like build up, even doing like promos about

who do you think's going to win, it comes down

to these two people, you know, it was just. That

that was like the last great thing I saw on Cartoon

Network and they and they actually did try to

do a follow -up Which is a total drama action?

Which is the exact same all the same people they

just moved the they moved the reality thing to

somewhere else And they started spoofing like

movies mm -hmm I'm I got like halfway through

it. I kind of lost interest in it because it

just wasn't as sharp as the first one yeah But

that's, I just wanted, because, you know, reality

television and Cartoon Network, I just had to

throw that in there, because I thought it was

the greatest thing ever. Oh, no, I mean, you

know, I tried watching some of Total Drama Island,

but I eventually kind of lost interest, not really

in the show itself, but I kind of lost interest

in watching Cartoon Network. Of course, this

is back when I still had Boomerang, which...

You know, like Steve said he watches all old

stuff and that's you know, thank God for DVD

We'll see ya I we have AT &T universe and they

have boomerang on there one of the first things

I did is I went in and in a season past like

centurions and Some other things and I watched

like one episode of each of them. I was like,

I can't watch this Well, it was not at all what

I remembered from being like a kid That has to

do with what we were talking about the other

day, I think, I don't know if it was Facebook

or Twitter, but it's like, the thing in question

was about Transformers, and you say Michael Bay

was raping your childhood, and I said that -

Well, I say that all the time. Right, but in

my opinion, I don't think he's raping anything,

because like I said on Twitter, it's like the

goal of the cartoon that we watched when we were

kids was to make us want to get our parents to

spend the money to buy those toys. And if I'm

not mistaken, that's exactly what the movies

do. Well, to piggyback off of that, unfortunately,

I don't know if you've heard the news, but apparently,

supposedly, we don't know yet, but apparently

the new Transformers cartoon is going to be set

in the movie universe, which is going to suck.

At least for me, anyway. Yeah, me too. Doesn't

it depend on who is doing the animation and all

the production work? No, not really because it's

all it's all on Hasbro Hasbro Hasbro's new network

with Discovery the hub So so you're telling me

that if you had all the voice actors from the

original series along with that production team

Just with an updated graphic style that it would

suck. No. Okay. What I'm saying is is that if

it can if If they are trying, OK, Transformers

3 comes out July 1, 2011. If they take this new

cartoon that they have and basically bridge the

gap between Revenge of the Fallen and the next

film, I am going to be so pissed. OK. Basically,

that's what I'm saying. It's basically like those

in -between graphic novels and stuff like that,

stuff that ties what happened during The time

that Revenge of the Fallen stopped being popular

and the time that the third film comes out is

what I'm saying. Now we already know, I think,

that Peter Cullen will be prime. I think, I'm

not sure. I know a lot of the original voice

actors like Michael Bell. And a few other people

have been auditioning for this cartoon I know

David Kay has because he kind of spilled it to

us that he has Or at the time of our interview

with him. He had read all the information on

it But you know It's just my initial opinion

that if it's set in movie universe. I'm not gonna

like it Hmm I guess I just don't I don't see

the The issue with it to me just comes out of

production values. That's all anything really

comes down to me I don't care where it's set.

It's just If it's if it's done right and it's

in if the cartoon is done right and it treats

the source material with more respect than the

movies I don't see what the big problem would

be Well, like I said, the problem would be tying

it into the movie universe. Like I said if it's

a if it's a bumper between the second and third

film. That's where I have the problem. in my

perception was for forever. But in reality, those

TV shows only lasted for 13 episodes. But in

my kid mind, and looking back now, those TV shows

were specifically designed to sell toys made

by Tyco. And that's fine. And I wish they would

do that now for a lot of things, because that's

a good idea. So if they do that again, and the

TV show bridges the gap between Revenge of the

Fallen and the new one, and the production values

are top notch, and it doesn't go on any farther

than when the movie comes out, awesome. Well,

see, that's the issue, though. OK, the problem

with like. Transformers animated gets a bum bum

rap it it honestly does there are a lot of you

know Super fans out there that love that show

and I at first was not one of them, but I am

now But transformers animated had the sad sad

death of the fact that oh my god we can't produce

these toys anymore for animated because we have

this new movie coming out and we have to do all

these toys and then we have to do all the repaints

of these original toys that we did for the second

movie line and yada yada yada and transformers

animated fell by the wayside they cancel the

line before they even release the final season

three figures now granted we are still going

I mean RC and Cybertron Mode Ratchet have already

showed up in US retail. We are going to be getting

Rodimus and Fugitive Waspinator and a whole bunch

of other toys, but the animated toy line had

to end because the fucking movie got released.

That pisses me off. That's Hasbro, dude. That

has nothing to do with the movie. Oh, yes it

does. No, that's Hasbro not having enough faith

in their own products. Yeah, well no, it's no

it has to do with Hasbro wanting to promote the

new line before the Current line even had a chance

to end peacefully right not having the faith

to go through with it because they're not gonna

be able to sell it Yeah I Don't know I you know

I still maintain that that I prefer watching

TV from the 80s and 90s Rather than today like

I said, there's a few select shows like Gossip

Girl and 24 and NCIS You know though and well

Smallville not really but You know those shows

you know those three are pretty much the only

network TV shows. I even watch anymore All these

ripoffs and and not really ripoffs, but all these

spin -offs Like NCIS LA, CSI Miami, CSI New York,

no. Give me the original, don't give me some

crappy shit with fucking David Caruso in it.

That's a station that doesn't even exist to me.

Yeah. What the hell was that noise? That was

my cell phone. Oh, okay. Sounded like my iTunes

was finished burning a CD. Do we have anything

else we want to say? About the fact that network

TV sucks I just want to say that because we were

talking about remakes and stuff like that and

you and you just brought up shows from like the

80s and so I want to say that in my opinion I

I watched When the when the rerelease when the

remake of Knight Rider hit the air mm -hmm I

like the pilot Unfortunately, they made a lot

of changes from the pilot to what actually showed

up on TV Yeah, so I didn't approve of it initially,

but then I actually went back. I downloaded like

half of the first season of Knight Rider. That

show, both shows are just as awful. I mean, it's,

I can't, it's an age thing. I can't watch, I

mean, I can't, I can, I still respect Knight

Rider from when I was a kid, but I can't say

that the remake of Knight Rider was any worse.

I think that the first part of the season of

the remake that was released was all over the

place, and they had no idea what they were doing.

But when they realized they were getting canceled

and they made really quick budget cuts, they

actually streamlined the show quite a bit down

to just three actors in a car. And it actually

worked a lot better. You know, I like the fact

that once episode 12 hit, Night to Kings Pawn,

the episode where Carr came back. I like the

fact that they are stretching out, that they

were stretching out and tying it back into the

original show of having the same concept idea.

But yeah, it kind of fell flat on its ass. As

far as the original show, I have always and will

always love that show. It doesn't matter how

cheesy it is, that's just what it was in the

80s. Well, I'm not saying cheese is bad. I like

a good helping of cheese. And I'm not saying

that you're doing this. It just really bugs me

when people are like, the original is so much

better. But it's not. Well, yeah. Yeah, it is.

In comparison to the two Knight Riders, Knight

Rider in the 80s lasted four years. This Knight

Rider barely got off the ground due to the fact

that NBC dropped every single promotion for it.

They started websites and everything else. They

had Ford behind them. Ford eventually dropped

out. They no longer had, by the 13th episode,

there was no commercials airing for new Knight

Rider whatsoever. What I'm saying is that the

acting, the production values of the show They

were similar. I'm not sure I'm articulating it

the right way. I'm not saying I like one show

more than the other. Obviously, when I was a

kid, a talking car was the greatest thing on

the face of the planet. And a car still is the

coolest thing on the face of the planet. I'm

just saying that... The the the Knight Rider

that I that I when I was a kid and I watched

Knight Rider that thing was that stuff was the

shit when I watched it when I watched like Knight

Rider and then I watched You know and I even

watched all the movies and then I watched like

Knight Rider 2000 and then I watched You know,

I watched the pilot for the new Knight Rider

and then all of Knight Rider it all felt the

same to me like I I understand that ABC dropped

the, or NBC dropped the ball on promotion because

NBC doesn't know how to promote shit. But they,

the one thing that the creators of the show,

not the network, the guys that stood behind the

show, in my opinion, they captured the essence

of what the 80s show was. But because they did

that, the 80s stuff does not sit well now. it

wasn't it was not see I think it does I don't

think so because it's like it's the same problem

that people have with superman returns singer

made a direct sequel to Superman 2 he didn't

go and make his own thing the guys that took

that that remade Knight Rider they didn't try

and make it their own right they made it a sequel

to the original series but the thing is though

I can see the continuities tying together, but

I can also see how other Knight Rider fans would

have a problem with the new series. I personally

don't. I like it for certain aspects of it, but

I will always stand by the original Knight Rider

as being the best out of the two. Well, I'm not

saying one's better than the other. I was never

saying that. I'm just saying that they captured

the essence, and I don't think 80s works now.

When you've got... When you've got movies like

The Dark Knight that have taken things that were

all bright and colorful and do another spin,

and you've got other shows that... In my opinion,

Knight Rider should have been more like... I

can't really put my finger out because there's

nothing like it, but somewhere between... Just

like a traditional cop drama more or less with

like like like the production values of like

a Cop drama with you know a science fiction talking

car. So basically you're wanting to mix Knight

Rider with the shield I Didn't even watch the

shield. I don't FX doesn't I love okay now granted

you can say what you want about FX, but The shield

was their very first original Television property

back in 2002. I love that show that show is just

awesome or even if you took something like okay

I get I'm not saying the shield has I'm not saying

FX has bad low production values. I like rescue

me and I like nip -tuck Okay, I'm not I've never

seen shield. I'm not saying I'm not gonna say

it's bad because all I hear about it is good

things the But yeah, if you if you're taking

something like the shield and just put like a

talking car in there like For some reason, I

think that would have worked better now than

what they were doing. Not to mention that I always

felt like the new Knight Rider was a rip -off

of Viper. No. Yes, the transforming car? Don't

tell me that wasn't a rip -off of Viper. No,

it actually wasn't. It was a rip -off of Transformers.

That's where it... I mean, granted, okay, I will

give you the fact that Viper was the one that

kind of started it all. as far as transforming

cars as far as television but really when it

went from okay in the pilot of the of the 2008

series you had he didn't transform but he had

the nano things the nano machines which was reminding

me of viper in the pilot right but It was cool

as hell on that Mustang. And then you go to series

where you have them transforming like Optimus

Prime in the 2007 Transformers movie. Which makes

no sense to me. No, it doesn't. And I agree to

that fact. It doesn't make any sense to have

a transforming kit whatsoever. I have to mention

the proportions are physically impossible for

a Mustang to turn into an F -150. Well, you know,

it was forward advertised, so... That's the other

thing there was no the the show was so outlandish

like in my opinion Heroes is a more grounded

show and even bionic woman was a more grounded

show than Knight Rider was Like Knight Rider

took its like we've got a talking car and it

can do all this crap and it like and it was like

It looked so bad not to mention that the The

turbo mode that Kit had, ugh, don't, ugh. That

made an OK -looking car look flat out bad. There

was one part that I absolutely loved in the series.

I don't remember what episode it is. I'm going

to have to go back and look. There's an episode

where Michael Knight Jr. tries something different

with Kit. And he. turbo boosts at a 90 degree

angle to get up over onto some other freeway

highway road thing and Just the the 90 degree

angle vertical turbo boost. I thought that was

such a cool effect Just the way that it was done,

you know, but I kind of tend to agree with you

that the the turbo boost wasn't Wasn't what it

could have been or wasn't what it used to be

And the fact that I don't understand why all

these film production people and television production

people have to show us the inside of the nitrous

tank when shit goes boom and the car goes faster.

You can blame that on Fast and the Furious. Well,

it's true. But I mean the same thing is I don't

get that though. I don't either. Well you you

you've given a list of the stuff that you watch

real quick. I just want to Mention some stuff

that I I watch just real this is like a small

sampling because I can't remember everything

I watch off the top of my head actually hang

on just a second You're still awake over there

Steve. Oh, yeah, I think I put him to sleep Don't

worry we do that on a nightly basis Let's see,

I have to, some recommendations for good TV shows

for listeners out there if they're interested

in TV. I have to recommend Burn Notice. I have

to recommend Castle if you're a fan of Nathan

Fillion at all. I have to recommend, and I don't

know if I've said this on your podcast before,

but I've said it on mine and I say it all the

time, Friday Night Lights, which sadly to me

is, Confirmed unconfirmed to be canceled. They

basically gave the actors the right to look for

more other work after they wrapped the fifth

season It's not it's not they didn't say canceled.

They just said you can go look for other work

Fringe is actually a pretty decent show Gossip

girl, I will agree with you on that Mercy if

you like scrubs or rescue me Mercy's actually

pretty good I just started watching Modern Family.

That's actually pretty good. Smallville. Meh.

Does anyone watch Sanctuary or Warehouse 13?

I know. Yeah, I watch both of those just for

the fun of it. Because Sanctuary just looks like

a video game. Like an old Sega CD video game.

It's fun to watch So yeah, I mean those are like

shows that I and I have like way more shows than

that that I watch on a weekly basis, but Those

are some of like my top tier like the ones that

I wait till Like I watch all the crap stuff that

I I watch all the shows because I like them but

there I have shows that I actually consider crap

or throwaway shows filler shows And I watch my

shows in order of like my least favorite to my

most favorite I would have to say it's a toss

-up between Castle, Friday Night Nights, and

Gossip Girl, if I had to pick three. Cool. What

about you, Steve? Heroes. Stupid natural. Shut

up. You're the one that abandoned your show.

Yes, but that's because it sucked, and I can

freely admit that it does. No, Supernatural's

good. Heroes, I'm... I'm still kind of on the

fence about. I'll have to wait and see what they

do with the next batch of the show anyhow. As

for just TV in general, I kind of find that I

like a lot of the older shows. Now this is just

my opinion. I don't. You know, I'm not gonna

try and push my opinion on other people but the

original versions of some of the shows are better

whereas I Mean and there is a chance that sometimes

the the newer incarnation is better than the

previous one But for like for instance, I just

got back into the Batman animated series I find

that more interesting and a lot More fun to watch

than any of the newer incarnations of Batman

Like you mean like the new adventures of Batman

the Justice League stuff. Well, no, I mean like

no He means like Batman the brave and the bold.

Oh, I can't watch brave in the bowl. Yeah, I

I mean I I Don't have anything against it, but

I find the DC animated universe Shows to be probably

the best incarnation of those I don't know. I

just feel like they're dumbing down a lot of

the shows for younger generations. Absolutely.

That's one of the problems I have with TV. That's

why I buy DVDs of all the old shows that I liked.

That way when I have kids, that's what they're

watching. You know what, Steve? I have that exact

same opinion. That's why I have 3 ,000 TV shows

on my hard drive. Awesome. Every show that I've

watched since 2004, I still have it. Because

I I dread the day when everything is reality

based TV and I have a camera that's filming me

in my living room Yeah, I have a camera in my

living room but Yeah, I just TV as it stands

right now, I like all the old stuff anything

beyond that just kind of I kind of shy away from

it anything new Just just out of curiosity since

we're all here in this conversation doesn't have

to take place on Twitter or Facebook But what

is your guys opinions of the Batman? It was okay,

it wasn't it just for me personally I like certain

aspects of it I love the Cape. Yeah, the Cape

was awesome. They got it, right Yeah, I you know,

I actually didn't really pay attention to like

I watched like the first two seasons and reruns

on on boomerang and I eventually I actually have

the fifth season on DVD because that's when they

started doing team ups And they brought in the

not really the Justice League, but they brought

in like the Hall of For some strange reason they

decided to pay homage to the Hall of Justice

uh... from super friends and have it in space

on a crater kind of like trying to mimic what

the what the watchtower looked like in uh...

justice league it was probably rights no i know

that uh... no i i understand that but uh... that

was just one of the aspects i did not like about

it which was no sense to me i can't understand

how that works uh... if you if you are water

brothers animation I'm sorry if you're Warner

Brothers and you own DC and you have a division

called Warner Brothers animation It is going

to handle all of your animation stuff. Why do

they not have the right to use every frickin

DC character? I cannot understand that Like I

I didn't realize this until I read the Wikipedia

entry about Justice League unlimited but characters

like they were like the storylines that they

were telling they had to not you like drop certain

characters all together because They stopped

using Aquaman because WB was going to try and

launch the Aquaman live -action show with Smallville.

Why do they have to stop using Aquaman in the

cartoon because they're launching a live -action

TV show? Well, it's like that. It doesn't even

connect. Or, wait, my favorite one? uh flash

in smallville becomes impulse because they're

getting ready to make a movie and they don't

want flash from smallville to interfere with

flash in the live -action movie i don't understand

your one studio you're one of others you own

dc comics why do you not have why are there limitations

with your creative teams well what i was going

to say was you know there was a whole um As far

as why I think the Joker only appeared in like

five maybe six episodes of Justice League throughout

this entire run and also there was a bat embargo

on characterizations for the Batman villains

when Justice League was airing. As far as why

they couldn't use certain characters or whatever

The only thing I can make an analogy to is the

fact that when, I know this is going to be bad,

but when Lois and Clark, the New Adventures of

Superman was on, DC was going to marry them in

the comics, but the show called them apparently

and said, hey, can you not do that because we're

kind of aiming for that in our show? And that's

where the death of Superman came about. Don't

I don't understand how that I don't understand

why I don't understand why how it works either

I'm not really sure whatsoever If people would

like to let us know you can call our voicemail

line at 502 -526 -5821 Or you can send an email

to Steve at geekcastradio .com I mean, it's not

like they're Marvel Studios, and they've got

movies all over the like with every studio Sure,

you know it's it's DC. That's one of the things

And Warner Brothers is a good studio. Don't get

me wrong, they're like easily my top favorite.

And it's a shame that they have, it's almost

a crime to me that they have all of the DC characters

because they don't, because they put money behind

their movies. And because they put so much money

behind their movies, they can't make, they can't

pull the Marvel stuff. They're the only studio

making it. So you don't get like you don't get

your Superman you get Superman and Batman But

we haven't seen we're getting a Green Lantern

in 3d blow my brains out um And you know we're

gonna get a Wonder Woman and flash is moving

forward too now, but it's like It's good that

we're seeing these movies now, and I'm glad that

Warner Brothers finally You know actually went

into their piggy bank that they built with the

matrix and with Lord of the Rings And they're

starting to use some of that money mm -hmm, but

It's almost a shame that they're the only studio

that has them because it's kind of like if one

of those movies flops Or doesn't make its money

back. That's like the end of it Well, see that's

the problem and that's one of the reasons why

and I know we're kind of veering off of how network

TV declined but one of the things is between

not really between Other studios and Warner Brothers,

but between Marvel and DC. I much prefer the

Marvel Universe films to DC films because DC

films, they don't put out a lot. It took them

eight years to do a Batman film. And then, you

know, of course we have The Dark Knight, which

is all well and good and, you know, one of the

best movies ever. But, you know, from 1995 until

2005, DC did, or DC or Warner Brothers did nothing

with any of their characters in film. The problem

is that, okay, I have read more Marvel comics

than I ever have DC comics because I can't read

DC comics. I just can't. I get to the end and

I swear to God, it's like there's pages missing.

I get to the end of the graphic novels and it's

like, there's like this climax coming and the

climax is on one page. Then in two pages the

entire comic is wrapped up, and I'm like what

the hell just happened yeah, and I Think you

know it's kind of like that that but Marvel characters

aren't like that for some reason Marvel characters

are a little more in -depth There's a little

more letters like different like more shades

to the characters more color more life Well Marvel's

always been behind Their movies I mean, okay

granted Iron Man and the Incredible were the

first two they actually ever produced themselves

but like with X -Men and Spider -Man and Daredevil

and all the movies that have been out so far

Marvel has backed them 100 % actually you'd you'd

be surprised how much say Marvel had over Spider

-Man X -Men and Daredevil Okay, but what I'm

saying is those movies are the reason they made

their own company Know that but what I'm saying

is is that you know the Marvel name is behind

those films Granted whether Marvel had anything

to say about them or not For the most part save

spider -man 3 and x -men 3 they were good films

You know I Think I but here's the thing I think

the DC characters make better movies I Think

the DC characters make better animated movies

than they do live action. Outside of the Dark

Knight, the DC characters make better animated

film than real film. That's okay because I have

faith in the next Superman because one, it's

not being called Superman, it's being called

The Man of Steel. It's being written by David

Goyer and Jonathan Nolan and being overseen by

Christopher Nolan. DC has pretty much handed

over all their stuff to them. Thank God for that

because if we got another brooding Superman,

I would shoot myself fucking Bryan singer Superman

Returns was the worst film ever I could watch

Superman Returns was worse than Supergirl and

that's saying something I Enjoyed Superman return,

but see the problem. I have I I can see why people

had a problem super returns. I didn't But it's

kind of like, at the same time, I wish Singer

had done his own thing. But he did an amazing

job at staying true to Richard Donner stuff.

But because he stayed in that mold, and again,

those movies were like 70s, 80s, that doesn't

work. Now, it doesn't. So there's like a perfect

example of, he should have made it his own. He

took X -Men and he made it his own. Which is

why it can stand on its own, whereas his Superman

doesn't stand on its own because he just was

like, everything has to be like this and it only

would have gone this far, but I'll tell you what,

the special effects in that movie were amazing.

I can watch him save that plane over and over

and over again. I just don't like the way Superman

was characterized. And the S was way too damn

small. I mean, you have Brandon Routh, who, you

know, is physically whatever, and then you have

this little teeny ass in the middle of his fucking

chest. You know, you could barely friggin' see

it, but, um... I didn't have a problem seeing

it. Anyway, I guess, uh, Steve, do you have anything

else you wanna say? Uh, no, not really. Thank

you for joining us here on GeekCast Radio. There

are several ways to get in contact with us. You'll

leave feedback for the show. The first is you

can stop by www .geekcastradio .com and find

all the other podcasts there. You can join our

forums at PredaconEmpire .com slash Nexus. And

you can leave the show feedback in iTunes. Please

do this. We now have a voicemail line. Call us

and leave us your thoughts on each episode. Be

sure to say which show you're leaving the message

for and your name. The number is 502 -526 -5821.

You can follow us on Twitter. The show name there

is GeekCastRadio. Mine is TFG1Mike. And Michael,

what is your Twitter? BoothNinja81. Steve? SCP21?

We hope you enjoyed this episode of GeekCastRadio

and wish you'll join us next time. For now, I

am TFG1Mike with... Steve Megatron Phillips and

Michael Powers. Thank you for listening and until

next time. Later.