dave@cylixd.UUCP (Dave Kirby) (11/12/85)
Okay, I know that Amazing Stories has been beaten to death recently, but last Sunday's episode was SO BAD that I just can't hold myself back. A new low has been reached in the Amazing Stories series. I truly wonder how it can possibly get worse than this. I refer, of course, to the insipid story of the little kid who was able to receive outer space broadcasts on his TV set with an antenna made from a broken umbrella. The story was ruined for me at the first when he has fiddling around with the TV and started picking up broadcasts from China. Since other countries use different broadcast frequencies and different picture scan parameters, the reception he got would be impossible. All right, I know, this show is for kids. You have to be willing to suspend logic and knowledge to stomach anything this series has shown. But what followed was so stupid I wondered how many 8-year-olds felt their intelligence was insulted. I kept on watching it, like a fool, hoping it would get better (for the same reason some people hold on to stocks in a falling market, I guess). The episode quickly went downhill from there, with the kids meeting the aliens and touring Hollywood with them, and... well, if you saw the show, you don't want to be reminded, so I'll stop with the synopsis. (If you didn't see the show, believe me, you don't want to know.) The whole thing reminded me of a modern Saturday morning cartoon. And that is the single worst insult I could ever give a program. So why don't I just stop watching the series? That is precisely what I intend to do. I was willing to give the show a few weeks to get better, since during sweep month most shows offer their most mindless episodes in order to attract the average TV watcher. I have watched it up to now because I was afraid I would miss a really good episode when things got better. And I sure thought I had struck pay dirt with the WW II episode. But its insipid ending made me realise that Spielberg does not intend to put out any quality at all in this series; even when he has a good episode going, he finds a way to ruin it. But this last one took the cake. It was so insulting it made me angry. I'll make a special effort to miss this show from now on, and tune in to Hitchcock, which has proven to be the best of the three new anthology series so far. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Kirby ( ...!ihnp4!akgub!cylixd!dave) (The views expressed herein are the exclusive property of Dave Kirby. Any person, living or dead, found with the same or similar opinions will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of law.)
dday@gymble.UUCP (Dennis Doubleday) (11/15/85)
In article <478@cylixd.UUCP> dave@cylixd.UUCP (Dave Kirby) writes: > >Okay, I know that Amazing Stories has been beaten to death recently, >but last Sunday's episode was SO BAD that I just can't hold myself >back. A new low has been reached in the Amazing Stories series. I >truly wonder how it can possibly get worse than this. >I refer, of course, to the insipid story of the little kid who was >able to receive outer space broadcasts on his TV set with an antenna >made from a broken umbrella. The story was ruined for me at the first >when he has fiddling around with the TV and started picking up >broadcasts from China. Since other countries use different broadcast >frequencies and different picture scan parameters, the reception he >got would be impossible. **GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!** If I hear one more complaint about details like this I'm going to scream. In fact, AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!!! They ought to put out a special edition of this show for you people. It would be called AMAZING STORIES FOR NIT-PICKING LITERAL-MINDED NERDS. It would be absolutely accurate in every scientific detail; all viewers would be required to build their own televisions before viewing each episode. I enjoyed this episode, especially seeing the aliens acting out I Love Lucy and hearing them sing the theme from Bonanza. OF COURSE the whole idea was silly. It was a FARCE. SAT-TIRE, knowwhutImean, Vern? We were supposed to laugh at the idea of picking up a Chinese weatherman on the television. I laughed hysterically when the alien sucked up everything on the table, including the ketchup bottle. I get the feeling that because Steven Spielberg is the producer of this series that many of you out there are comparing it to feature films rather other television series. It's just not going to be as good as that standard. Each episode is budgeted at around $1 million (that's very high for tv) and they have to make one every 1-2 weeks. Compare that to the average movie budget and schedule. I don't think AMAZING STORIES is the best show on television, but I think most people would agree that it is good television. I wait for it every week with anticipation because I don't know what to expect. Except that I know I'll see high production values (the highest on television), a good cast, an interesting director (now that's really the most unusual thing of all--who really cares who directs WHO'S THE BOSS or MAGNUM P.I.?), and probably an good story (the only ones I haven't liked so far were the first one about the train and the one about the Alamo, which didn't go anywhere). It would be a shame if it didn't succeed and was replaced by another TV sitcom clone. I think the very fact that people on the net bother to argue about it indicates that it is an important show (when was the last debate over the merits of say, REMINGTON STEELE?). -- UUCP: seismo!umcp-cs!dday Dennis Doubleday CSNet: dday@umcp-cs University of Maryland ARPA: dday@gymble.umd.edu College Park, MD 20742 Fan of: Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bears, OU Sooners (301) 454-4247
kayuucee@cvl.UUCP (Kenneth W. Crist Jr.) (11/16/85)
> I think the very fact that people on the net bother to argue about > it indicates that it is an important show (when was the last debate over > the merits of say, REMINGTON STEELE?). How can you argue about perfection? Star-Lord