just a mass form communication

I have watched more TV in the past three days than I have in the last several months, and I can now declare with great authority: television is teh sucks.
My god. I can’t believe how horrible daytime TV is, and the crap the news networks show to fill their 24 hours is just plain stupid.
However, I did find two things that brightened my day just a bit. Yesterday, SciFi channel ran several episodes of The Twilight Zone, and I just watched an hour of The Battle of the Network Stars on Trio. I think it was from 1977. The hazy quality of the tape, Howard Cosell interviewing Patrick Duffy (credited as “The Man From Atlantis”) and the general weirdness my fever (moving between normal and 101 today — currently it’s at 99) casts upon everything made for a very surreal experience. I remember watching that show when I was very young, in the den at my mom and dad’s house. I remember how cool I thought that show was, and how much I wanted to be on it one day. (Everyone was on that show. Look at this cast list I found!) I thought that obstacle course they all had to do was just the coolest thing ever.
I also suffered through two episodes of The Newlyweds on eMpTyVee. That’s right: two. Holy Mother Jesus Balls. Is Jessica Simpson really that stupid? She’s 23, I think, and doesn’t know how to cook? Are rich and famous people really that lame? Why in the world is that show so popular? I just don’t get it. It’s actually more painful than that stupid Anna Nicole show.
I wonder if any sociologists have studied a correlation between the staggering stupidity of so many people and the explosion of these “reality” shows. I wonder if art imitates life, or the other way around?
Okay. Enough of my cantankerous ranting. I’ll end today on a positive note: Since I got sick, I have watched the entire extended cut, and all the appendicies on my The Two Towers DVD. It’s awesome. It’s very clear that TTT was an extremely difficult film to make, even more than Fellowship of the Ring . . . I mean, they spent three months of night shoots to film the battle of Helm’s Deep! Three months of night shoots! I once did three weeks of nights on a movie, and I was ready to lose my mind. I can’t imagine three months, in the rain, doing complex battle sequences.
The esprit de corps that the cast and crew had really comes through, and it reminded me of all the different shows I’ve worked on where the cast and crew became family. I miss that. If I get a chance to work as an actor again, I hope I get to experience that again.

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86 thoughts on “just a mass form communication”

  1. TV is crap, I agree with you on that. Go and watch “The Return of the King” it is completely phenomenal! Hope you feel better Wil!

  2. TV is awful. At some point I’m going to become one of those annoying people who gets really pretentious and always talks about the fact they don’t own a TV. 🙂 It’ll be awesome.

  4. Of course you’ll act again. I have a feeling this Neverland movie is going to be really good for you. Besides you’re an awesome writer who needs Hollywood! Get better, ride the wave of fever 😉

  5. MTV is showing The Newlyweds in Australia, too. I’ve managed to catch a couple of episodes and find myself inexorably drawn in by the whininess, insecurity and straight-out dumbness of Jessica Simpson. Here she is, successful (more or less), beautiful, talented (in a painful, Top 40 radio kinda way) and all she can bother about is bitching to hubby about where to put the TV and going to auditions for dancers in his new video to make sure the girls aren’t “too hot” for Nick to handle.
    My god, I WISH SO MUCH I could even get SciFi Channel in Australia.

  6. I really hope you do act again in a major work, cuz everytime the production is good, you kick ass…even a great actor can’t save a mediocre-to-tired piece from semi-to-full-blown disaster. Who knows, maybe you’re too real to ever really fit into a clik-based system of phony “I’m better than you” stars, but talent is what people go to movies and watch shows to see, truth be known. A halfway intelligent crowd wants to feel the joy and the pain of the character which the actor skillfully interprets. I hope you act again soon, and get paid like Keanu for it. Much Holiday joy and happy, money-filled new year!

  8. Wil,how are are you going to end your day?Perhaps going out on the porch and yelling at those damn neighbour kid’s to “GET THE HELL OFF MY DAMN LAWN”! heh

  9. Yeah, I’d agree overall about the quality of TV. On the otherhand, and I’m sure I’m going to get laughed off the ‘net, but I really like Survivor.
    I find it a very interesting sociological study; during the first half, everyone works as a team, and therefore votes off the the weak players. Throughout the second half, people play for themselves (overtly, now), so everyone votes off the strong, threatening players. In the end, it’s not the best or smartest or strongest player who wins, but the person who is in the 75-percentile for all of those qualities.
    An interesting comment on how our society works, and in some ways it makes it a little clearer how we could possibly have ended up with the president that we now have.
    Feel better, man

  10. Well… I hope you don’t miss another exciting edition of Celebrity Poker Showdown on Bravo tonight. Sure, the poker is bad… but it’s still poker on TV!

  11. I wish I had time to watch the LOTR DVDs for FOTR and TTT before tonight.
    We’re going to see ROTK tonight at the Arclight/Cinerama Dome and I can’t help but to feel like I need a refresher from the last one…

  15. she may be as dumb as the day is long, or as dim as a box full of burnt out lightbulbs, but she’s going to gross $20 million in 2003.
    god bless america.

  16. The main reason why I refuse to get cable is because of the lack of quality shows. I loved television in the 70’s and 80’s (especially TNG *drool*). And when I did have cable, MTV actually showed *gasps* music videos.
    And yes, TTT extended rawxs. Still drooling over Viggo in make up. I still haven’t seen RotK yet. Hopefully before the year is up (only a few days left). But either way, I’m getting the extended version of that too to add to my collection when it’s out.

  18. I got this off of moviemistakes.com concerning the lotr dvd
    HIDDEN BONUS MATERIAL on the Special Extended DVD Version: There are two secrets on the discs containing the film, one on each disc. Go to the scene index on either disc, scroll down to the last scene (either ‘The council of Elrond’ or ‘Official fan club credits’), then scroll down one more time. On the first DVD, a little ring will appear next to the line ‘new scene’. Click Enter. This leads to an introduction by Peter Jackson and an MTV parody on the council of Elrond, which isn’t suitable for children. On the second DVD, the silhouettes of Barad Dur and Orthanc appear in the downright corner of the screen. Click Enter, and you’ll see another introduction by Peter Jackson, and the Two Towers cinematic preview trailer: the one played in theatres after the Fellowship of the Ring, towards the end of its running period.

  19. Get a TiVo. Happiness will ensue.
    And, you can get a WishList…to yourself! Like so:
    WISHLIST: WHEATON, WIL
    TiVo found 9 matching programs.
    Michaela
    “because not everyone can ego-surf on their own TiVo”

  20. Hey Wil, I got a +4 on Slashdot today by mentioning your audition for “I, Robot” in an article about the movie. The post was at 5 but apparently some mods are anti-Wil, or maybe they just didn’t like the fact that I made a typo. Anyway, check it out here:
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=90322&cid=7794056
    That URL is displaying weirdly in preview… hope I don’t fux0r things up here. If I do, my bad.

  22. TV sucks much. Was once stuck watching MTV for 3 hours (my dad’s house, I was stuck with his teenaged step-son thing). I actually felt my IQ drop 10 points.
    The one thing I really brought out of watching an episode of Newlyweds was how bad I feel for that idiot’s husband. In the one I watched he was trying to do all this really sweet shit for her and she was just mucking it all up.
    One show I did kinda like recently was when you were hosting Arena.

  23. Very little is worth watching on TV these days. Pretty much all the good sci-fi is on DVD, and all the anime shown on TV is edited to death.

  24. I agree with everyone else, very little is good on TV these days. So the question is: why do we keep watching it?
    Thank goodness for the History Channel, Discovery, TLC, Foodnetwork, and HGTV…at least there are a few somewhat intellectually stimulating shows here…Oh and thanks to Spike for the many TNG reruns! =^)

  25. As for the stupidity comment, here’s a scary thought…
    Think of how stupid the average person is, then, by the law of averages, more than half the population is even more stupid than that guy.

  26. I totally agree with your review of the Two Towers extra material. I just watched both discs yesterday and I must say that they rock! I also enjoyed the Return of the King.
    I saw an interview of Peter Jackson yesterday (on the net) where he said that the DVD version of Return of the King would be 5+ hours long. I can’t wait… 🙂

  27. Your timing is pretty bad. Daytime TV sucks, and this time of the year aint so good either.
    Big shiny exceptions for this year:
    – Clone High was, for the one season it lasted on MTV, spectacular, before it was shut down by skittish advertisers.
    – The Joe Schmoe Show. Like most, I’m absolutely sick of reality TV shows. But the Joe Schmoe show, with its elements of reality tv, was a nearly perfect parody of all the mainstream ones. I’m torn on whether or not I want to see a second season. It was an excellent concept, but what really made it gripping to watch was the fantastically naive, perfect nice-guy, Matt Gould. If they can find another like him, a second season will be welcomed graciously.
    Hopefully both will hit DVD/P2P soon. Make every effort to watch them.

  29. Wil, good to know that you’re feeling a wee bit better. :^) By the way, loved that ‘Unscrewed’ preview. Unfortunately I won’t be able to see the episode since I don’t have Tech TV here. :^(
    Yup, daytime TV sucks big time. Luckily there still are some good cable channels out there. DVDs are always a good thing.
    Happy Holidays everyone!

  30. I was still in high school when Jessica Simpson’s first album came out and I ended up loving her stuff, so I’ve watched a lot of Newlyweds. Her mother spoiled her rotten and literally did everything for her. Laundry, roomcleaning, everything. And the girl had a record deal at 14 and was always in and out of hotels for her teen years.
    She literally went from having everything done for her by her parents and record company, to moving in with her husband.
    So yeah, its understandable yet kinda sad, pathetic and annoying how much she doesn’t know. Like, sometimes I might have wondered about that chicken of the sea thing, since I don’t eat tuna anyway…but I wouldn’t have said anything out loud!
    LOL.
    And dude, watching TTT EE is like, the best way to spend a day at home sick.
    Those movies as well as watching the cast and crew interact is what keeps me interested in wanting to be a filmmaker. The camraderie that they seem to have is part of my dream.
    I’m glad it’s not just fangirls like that me that hold the opinion that working with a group of people that’s like another family to you is one of the best parts of working in “the business.” Wow….don’t mind me for like, writing a novel at you in comments, heh.

  32. Yes TV sucks in general, but all the movies I can never afford to see I see on tv. Of course I am occationally lucky enough to see movies on the theater. I watch movies late at night. Also occationally when I am in insomnia mode I watch tv because its mindless. My eyes are too weary for reading or sitting in front of my computer so I watch tv for the mindless quality. I like to watch cartoon network for that. Late night cartoon is usually better than daytime as well. Boomerang is good for classic cartoons. Well what they call classic which are alot of the cartoons that were on when I was a kid and some that are older than me. Makes me feel a bit old though LOL. SciFi occationally does have a good show or two on.
    By the way do not ever show a contrary opinion on any show they have because its a quick way to be banned from the site. LOL
    Later People,
    Beth

  35. TV sucks…. thats why people have DVD players and VCRs. Check out these movies:
    Rubin and Ed (1991)
    The Big Lebowski (1998)
    Boogie Nights (1997)
    Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

  36. I got sucked into watching Newlyweds by a friend. I do feel bad for Nick. I didn’t like him from what I had seen before the show but he seems like a pretty intelligent guy. How he can stand being around someone who says such dumb shit on a daily basis is beyond me. And he defends her by saying “well, if you were on TV, you would say some dumb things too”. Uh, obviously he doesn’t, so why would I?

  37. Okay, now I hate to point this out, cause I ain’t too keen on Jessica Simpson either, but… Wil your famous, what are you speciality dishes? The only thing I can sort of stomach on daytime TV is Ellen Degeneres show, but that’s only if I work hard to surpress my gag reflex.

  39. I sure hope Jessica Simpson isn’t that stupid. I’d like to think that it’s an act or something. Really, I do. She sure is nice on the eyes though. That part doesn’t take many witts.

  40. Wil, you need a TiVo in a big way. Once it starts learning what you like you will never watch crap TV again. It takes it a bit to learn, but after a week or so you will never even know that Anna Nicole is on TV. If it wasn’t for Fark, I would not even know she had a show – all because of TiVo.
    Oh, and as a bonus I have not seen a commercial on purpose in three years. Fast forward is veddy nice. So is pause when your phone rings or you have to go to the bathroom. I haven’t missed a single lap of a F1 race yet because of that feature.

  43. Good to hear you are getting better, Wil. When I have to stay home sick, my favourite daytime viewing includes two back to back episodes (on different channels) of TNG. Unfortunately, a terrible side effect of the flu bug seems to be that I have a pre-disposition to double episodes of Dawson’s Creek on TBS. How sick do you have to be to watch that? (Please, no one answer that one.) Anyway, please do get well soon and have a great Christmas with your family.

  44. It’s true that most TV today sucks majorly, but as you mentioned some shows like twilight zone (There’s a 48 hour marathon every new years’s day 🙂 make it worthwhile. Sort of. . .

  45. TiVo dreams = another chance to get your penguin on.
    Wil, if you decide you need more control over your set, TiVo would work but open-source would be so much more fun. That’s what I am doing to celebrate getting done with my PhD thesis in the next couple of months (at most). I have a themed blog going (click the name) but since I am not yet running you might want to whet the appetite at MythTV.org.

  48. Yup.. Jessica Simpson sucks. Why would anyone want to know about her married life?? Why, oh why?
    Seriously, with so many horrible things going on in the world, that silly girl should thank God, shut up and never show herself in public again.. woa.. got carried away.. Hehehe! yes, TTT is AWSOME 🙂

  49. I had the opportunity to meet Billy Boyd (Pippin), Elijah and Dominic (Merry) in person last year, when I was working in the production of Master and Commander. They all said filming LOTR was an extreme experience, and what’s more, they all became real friends, the friendship between all of them is fantastic, or at least, it seems that way. By the way, Billy is the nicest one of the “Hobbits”.

  50. yes, there is alot of BAD TV out there…
    if it wasn’t for the re-runs of M.A.S.H.
    just about anything of T.V. LAND….
    or some show called…
    “NEXT GENERATION OF STAR TREK”
    STARRING WIL WHEATON
    and most of what’s on THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL
    AND THE LEARNING CHANNEL
    I would go crazy…
    AS FOR FILMS… WE’VE GOT
    Peter Pan, Big Fish & Cheaper by the
    Dozen coming out soon…
    Timeline was very good
    HOPE YOU ARE FEELING BETTER WIL
    MAY YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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