Too Much Of a Bad Thing

Since its first episode, I found 'The Shield' to be as fascinating as anything I'd ever seen on screen: the amoral nature of Vic Mackey, the byzantine political workings of the Barn, the constant pressure from superiors to 'get results - period', and the frenzied, kinetic pace made this show an incredible (but still a thinking man's) adrenaline rush. Slowly, the show seemed to settle into something more akin to a faster-paced, violent soap opera for guys, but it was still far superior to most of its competition. The ending seemed at first a bit anticlimactic, but when it became clear that the ultimate aplha male had been chained to a desk and made to suffer a three year stretch of indignities from a female boss who loathed the sight of him, Vic's future seemed very bleak indeed, especially since one slip could result in his prosecution for numerous capital crimes. I, for one, will miss the show.
I'd also like to point out that the show was very much a product of it's time, running contemporaneously with the Bush administration, and doubtless drawing much inspiration for its morally ambigious stance from our fearless leaders. Is this art imitating not life, but cluelessness?

I remember back in the late 60's the public outcry over the "violence" in TV westerns. i.e. all the shooting, but if you have ever watched one, there was little in the way of blood and they were essentially moralitity tales where the bad guy gets killed. And the Western died out on TV. NOW LOOK AT WHAT HAS REPLACED IT ON TV programming with curse words, graphic sex and detailed bloody violence! Also in the same time period, concerned citizens campaigned heavily to have DDT -a commom bug spray, outlawed because it was not safe. It did not dissipate and stayed in the environment affecting the wildlife and fish. So farmers quit using it on produce....but again, we are still not safe from DDT because it is used in Mexico where much of our produce comes from today. Ironic, isn't it.

Downward spiral just going deeper.... the U.S. was founded by rebels - troublemakers who gave England the finger and did their own thing. Our ancestors robbed the Native American Indians, kept slaves, and burned people at the stake as well. What do you expect? I just hope I'm not around when it finally collapses in on itself.

In a sense, the Hollywood producers are producing material to match their own personal characters, or lack thereof. Most of Hollywood is immoral to one degree or another and every year Hollywood has pushed harder and harder against restraints. Starting in the late 1980s, sex was pushed very hard and when that had gotten passe, then other moral areas were degraded. Sitcoms and drama reflect this.

I quit watching sitcoms regularly with "Golden Girls" at the end of the 1980s, because all of Hollywood turned to sexual innuendo for half the jokes. (Other than news, I've about quit watching anything regularly). Besides the moral implications with that kind of sick writing, it has the problem that it???s very limited in what one can write. TV and movies become completely predictable. When one switches to a sitcom and watches for five minutes, one can literally predict what a character say next.

Hollywood can't write anymore, in general. I get tired of having to stop a movie after ten minutes because the writing is too poorly done to watch. There have always been bad writers, but most ???A??? movies now have ???B??? to ???F??? writing and acting. The same with TV. (Sheesh, couldn't some of these outfits spend more than $8.88 on the script out of the $million per program?!)

Several producers of science fiction and drama have gone to other cities or even countries, not because of cost, but because they could have quality writers??? not having to deal with the IDIOTS of the Writers Guild. (It did my heart good to see the Guild go on strike. I wish they would strike for the next ten years. Television and movies would improve immeasurably.) A few producers had the money to buck the system, but most of the rebel producers (those with honor and a desire for quality) have had to leave.

Two different studies have shown that G movies make the most money. So, why does Hollywood make 75% R movies? Also, Hollywood is about ten years behind the times in their portrayal of morals. The country hit its nadir with personal morals during the 1990s with Gen X (my generation) and is starting to climb out of the morass again. Hollywood is still gleefully spiralling downward. One wonders when Hollywood will get the idiotic idea to start producing pornographic films??? After all, Hollywood believes that the end justifies the means and they believe that making money and spreading socialism justifies anything. Just ask Oliver Stone or Michael Moore about that.

When about 25% of the viewing public watches the modern movies coming out in the theaters-- and most of them end up on the bargain DVD shelf because no one buys them when they first come out, Hollywood should take notice. So far, they make enough money to insulate themselves from the bulk of the public. For the present.

I don't think this is a particularly simple issue. Many of the people who truly appreciate the difficulties and dilemmas of people who really try to act ethically probably aren't watching TV in the first place, and TV producers (like everyone else) respond what gets them positive feedback. And most of the feedback they're getting is either from like-minded friends, critics, and colleagues or from audiences who are fascinated by what anti-heroes can get away with or with their quirks. Anti-heroes seem to be able to go places, get results, that ethical people can't, and there's always the dramatic tension of how long it will be until their unethical acts come back to haunt them. Anti-heroes are conflicted, they mess up. People identify with that--sometimes even when these characters are unrepentant. Who isn't shocked and a tinge bit amused by Gregory House? He's cruel, selfish...but I suppose the screenwriters feel that the good these guys do outweighs the messes they make and the consequences of their actions. Then too, people don't always agree on what's right or wrong in a given situation. And it's hard not to find compassion for almost anyone if you know them well enough, because even people who do the worst things are still human and we can see the tragedy of how they come to make the mistakes they do. This doesn't excuse anything; we still have to be decent human beings and we should think really hard about glorifying characters who deliberately act unethically or break the law. If they are truly doing the right thing, then breaking the law doesn't fix the system, even if it gets desired results at the time. Maybe we should be having more discussions between ourselves as to what is right and wrong when we watch TV. Most importantly, what the networks put on the air is what they think we want. When Hollywood goes overboard, we don't have to watch their stuff. (I keep hoping that they'll wake up someday and realize how few of the movies and shows they're offering have any interest for me, but maybe they won't get the message unless people tell them straight out what they're missing.) I think we are feeding ourselves cynicism and a kind of self-justification that you can't make it in the world without making a few moral or legal compromises. That we can still be "good" or at least interesting people even if we really mess up. (Maybe even if we have absolutely no intention of improving our behavior in the future!) Finally, I think we're selling ourselves a creed that our intentions and even our ethics don't matter so long as we get the right, or at least the desired, results. While we all know the problems with that, it's a little more difficult for us to recognize them and be entirely honest with ourselves about the moral compromises we may make or be willing to make when we want something badly.

criticalthinker101, it would be much eaiser to turn off your TV if you find something offensive. I dont need congress or anyone telling me or my famliy what i can or cant watch.

criticalthinker101, it would be much eaiser to turn off your TV if you find something offensive. I dont need congress or anyone telling me or my famliy what i can or cant watch.

In response to criticalthinker101.... It is up to the viewer to decide what is right and wrong. If they cannot decern this then they are obviously messed up as it is and Hollywood isn't going to do anything that hasn't already been done. Also, as far as youth are concerned, it is (and always has been) up to parents to let their children know what is right and wrong. Not only that but they need to remind them on a regular bassis. We as people glorify these people because we know in real life that this stuff doesn't fly and it is just all make-believe in the end. Again, it comes down to parents and the viewer to decern right and wrong and if they can't then it is already too late and hollywood really won't affect the outcome.

In response to criticalthinker101.... It is up to the viewer to decide what is right and wrong. If they cannot decern this then they are obviously messed up as it is and Hollywood isn't going to do anything that hasn't already been done. Also, as far as youth are concerned, it is (and always has been) up to parents to let their children know what is right and wrong. Not only that but they need to remind them on a regular bassis. We as people glorify these people because we know in real life that this stuff doesn't fly and it is just all make-believe in the end. Again, it comes down to parents and the viewer to decern right and wrong and if they can't then it is already too late and hollywood really won't affect the outcome.

And we want crime to end and all this but then if you show some one a dollar sign they will put a show up with murders and thugs who kill and cheat and idolize it. Someone should pass a law to finally constraint the demonds in Hollywood and tell them no when they try to polute TV with Killers, Cheaters, Drugatics, and Buglers.

And we want crime to end and all this but then if you show some one a dollar sign they will put a show up with murders and thugs who kill and cheat and idolize it. Someone should pass a law to finally constraint the demonds in Hollywood and tell them no when they try to polute TV with Killers, Cheaters, Drugatics, and Buglers.

Its alll just garbage, no imagination, no goal, , no instiration..... thats why I just turn the tv off. ....Who need the crap!

I think the high praise given the crooks and theives and murderers are a direct reflection of what our leadership has shown us, How cool is it to rip off the American taxpayerof billions and billions , break every law in the books, be a traitor and still be in the white house unfazed by all the crime and wholesale slaughter he has caused. The tV and movies are just Art imitating life.

"You could argue that the political climate of the past eight years primed audiences for antihero worship, that in the midst of a war started with faulty intelligence, suspected terrorists sent to black sites and a domestic eavesdropping program, it's no wonder we would be interested in delving deeply into the true motives underlying the actions of powerful people." ....this part is BS. Nuff said.....makes the rest of the "opiniated ... essentially "editorial VICE article" and the beginning of it just a jumbled bunch of letters typed out on a screen. Author....YOUR OPINIION of whether the war was started with faulty intelligence (It wasn't !!....Iraq HAD WMD's and it was NEVER proven they destroyed them) and I'm not going into the rest of it. Your analysis became "manure" after you tried to tie it to unproven and BS "tag lines" used by political pundits of any side.

I was hopeful that a show like "Heroes" on NBC would spawn a resurgence of good guys being good and bad guys being bad. Unfortunately, this season started out turning the whole universe topsy-turvy and making heroes villains and villains heroes all over the place. At the back-end, there was a return to normalcy, if you could call it that after setting up a plotline that could turn any way at any time. Still, I long for the days when people like the Lone Ranger and Superman and Spiderman could be counted on to be the good guy and not the good guy with a dilemma churning away at their psyche.

I was hopeful that a show like "Heroes" on NBC would spawn a resurgence of good guys being good and bad guys being bad. Unfortunately, this season started out turning the whole universe topsy-turvy and making heroes villains and villains heroes all over the place. At the back-end, there was a return to normalcy, if you could call it that after setting up a plotline that could turn any way at any time. Still, I long for the days when people like the Lone Ranger and Superman and Spiderman could be counted on to be the good guy and not the good guy with a dilemma churning away at their psyche.