How Does Cable TV Find All Of These Crappy Movies ?

[PegLeg45]

Michael,

Explain to the layman (me) the romanticizing of crime family dramas like SOA, The Godfather, Sopranos, et al..

Regardless of Mario Puzo's and Coppolas writing, in the end, all the bad guys (the Corleones) ended up dead as it should be...  Crime don't pay...the guidos paid the ultimate price. 

What makes shows like Sons of Anarchy create such a fervor for criminals and their criminal activities so popular?  In full disclosure, I've never watched SOA or the Sopranos, not a single episode, but...I'm interested to know what draws folks who wouldn't consider breaking the law to gravitate to a drama that romanticizes crime to an extreme level.

One of the things I liked about SoA was, while in the beginning it seemed to glorify criminal activity, by the time the 3rd-4th seasons rolled by it was clearly showing a cause/effect nature in its arc.
 
I can say, without spoiling it for those who have not watched (but may be entertaining doing so), that by the final season it clearly showed that good choices for bad reasons as well as bad choices for seemingly good reasons, have major consequences later on.




As to cable/dish/etc

I'm thinking of dropping all but just the basic package. It would be cheaper to buy entire show seasons online, or even on DVD, for less than what one month of premium programming costs. Dish Network charges $103 per month for a two-room DVR and a second HD room added with their top programming package. You can get an entire season of a show like SoA on DVD, for example, for $25-$35 on Amazon or cheaper streaming online from Amazon.

Now that SoA is done and Justified is almost done, the only other channels I watch are History and Discovery...and they come with the basic package. I would miss Encore Western channel, but you can get old westerns way cheap from Amazon and many for free online.


A neighbor stopped his Dish subscription last year and he built his own digital antenna from plans he found online. He can pick up 14 local area digital channels.

[Timothy]

One of the things I liked about SoA was while in the beginning it seemed to glorify criminal activity, by the time the 3rd-4th seasons rolled by it was clearly showing a cause/effect nature in its arc.
 
I can say, without spoiling it for those who have not watched (but may be entertaining doing so), that by the final season it clearly showed that good choices for bad reasons as well as bad choices for seemingly good reasons, have major consequences later on.

Yea, I get all that...

My issue is with the following of criminal biker gangs, etc...  Again, I've never watched a single episode so I base my questions on the brief snippets that are put on networks to advertise the show.

I've been licensed on a motorcycle for 42 years and rode for 35 until one fateful day in August.  I've ridden with all sorts of bikers and most these days are middle aged professionals that play "tough guy" on the weekend.  Some are actual members of organized clubs but rarely would you find them doing anything even remotely illegal.  These same guys wear SOA hoodies and tees that promote that show and I find it ridiculous!

Crime is crime...bikers that steal, racketeer, kill and promote violence are not the norm and deserve to die a violent death just like the Corleones or the Sopranos or any other murdering bastard.

I was elated when the last Corleone keeled over in his driveway!  I suspect if SOA is anything similar, I suspect I'd have a similar response!

[PegLeg45]

Then you would LOVE the conclusion of the show, Tim.   

[Timothy]

Then you would LOVE the conclusion of the show, Tim.   

 

[kmitch200]

I've ridden with all sorts of bikers and most these days are middle aged professionals that play "tough guy" on the weekend.

There are bikers and then there are guys who own and ride motorcycles.
Playing tough guy on weekends doesn't make someone a biker IMHO. That's just a Nouveau Biker that is about as dangerous as your average housecat. 

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

Maybe it's because no one would watch a TV series about a guy who owns a motorcycle and rides it to work, and on weekends.
You ever notice that Cop shows are never about the endless years of picking up drunks and handing out parking tickets, westerns were never about an uneventful cattle drive.
All for the very simple reason that those things are basically boring as hell.

[mortdooley]

I receive all the American channels and just about all of the other ones from Houston with a 15 year old Bar Antenna in the attic of my home. The only Internet available on my street is the Phone Company DSL running at less then one Mbps but is unlimited.

The TV tuner cards work with Windows Media player on the computer but only record one program at a time.
 
A friend shares accounts with his grown children who live in other parts of the City so he can activate Smart TV Apps with their log ins, I think he is just too cheap to have his own accounts.

[billt]

Maybe it's because no one would watch a TV series about a guy who owns a motorcycle and rides it to work, and on weekends.
You ever notice that Cop shows are never about the endless years of picking up drunks and handing out parking tickets, westerns were never about an uneventful cattle drive.
All for the very simple reason that those things are basically boring as hell.

Bingo. Proof of Tom's statement is, "Marriage Boot Camp". I just happened to flip to the previews of this convoluted clusterf#*k a couple of nights ago. They basically take a bunch of completely F*#KED up celebrities, who have managed to train wreck their lives and marriages to a point they should have never been married in the first place.

Then they stick the whole rotten bunch of these idiots in a multi million dollar home, along with a couple of "experts". Then proceed to video tape the whole train wreck that takes place, and make a TV show about it. It's nothing more than Jerry Springer on steroids, with more made up women in expensive clothes. Instead of inbred West Virginia trailer park refugees, with 3 teeth in their whole mouth and 14 kids per litter. It all goes to show how television can make something out of nothing, just as long as they have an audience stupid enough to watch it.

[ExurbanKevin]

I have to wait to watch 9/10th's of the TV these days until after my boys have gone to bed, at which point, the experience is pretty much the same as Netflix. All cable tv does is fill up my DVR.

Speaking of which, we had broadcast-only for awhile, and my sones (ages 9 and 11) were genuinely puzzled with the concept that the show the wanted to watch was "not on".

Do you think that in 20 years, when they have their own households, they'll put up with cable bundling?

Me neither.

[mortdooley]

There are posts from people who claim to not watch TV anymore and at first I feel like those people are missing something. But there is so much lame programing maybe we should all cut back to just what we really want to see and do something else with the rest of our time. There are long running series I have never watched just because I choose not to spend my time on them. One I tried to watch may surprise this bunch, it's Criminal Minds. I watched about 5 or 6 episodes of the first year and my impression was "The white guy did it, the white guy is always the one who does it, the white guy is the one with the criminal mind! Sorry Joe.