Hotel-Season 1 will finally be released on DVD(21st July) (1 Viewer)

[Corey3rd]

Originally Posted by HenryDuBrow

What the first reviewer laments there, is precisely why I take oldtime TV over modern eye candy, why it beats the living crap out of what's on the box today. Yes, stories sometimes sucked badly (never as bad or boring as now), but the fine actors more than made up for it usually. Can't wait to dig into this set.

Gotta disagree on that count. I don't think their are too many series from 50s - mid-90s that can top the all around talent found on "Oz," "The Wire," "Dexter" and "The Sopranos." The new version of Battlestar Galactica is superior to the original version. Love Boat is fun as a nostalgic artifact of kitsch, but it's as mindless as a test pattern. This first season of Hotel came off as an uptight version of Love Boat. It could have been helped by a sense of humor.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

What I like about Hotel is that there's no humor, something I never enjoyed about Love Boat to be honest, the Brolin show was going for something else entirely. I positively dislike laugh tracks (wish they offered a turn-off option), and don't watch any of the 90s/00s shows you mentioned, strictly a classic TV guy. So I obviously prefer the original BG to the updated one. Thank God for DVD!

 

[Corey3rd]

got to say that you're really missing out on the new BSG. Richard Hatch is much better on the new one

Watching Hotel, what storylines that were supposed light (like Erin Moran) came off more uncomfortable than comic.

 

[Aryn Leroux]

I watched the first disc of the set. I enjoyed the episodes I have watched so far. Seeing Pernell Roberts in one of the episodes has me longing for a release of Trapper John though. Hopefully this sells well enough so we can see future seasons. A worthy purchase!

 

[bmasters9]

I'm nearing the halfway mark, and I've really been enjoying it. However, something I thought I should bring to your attention-- they seem to have been playing musical chairs with the closing backgrounds. One time, it's the Golden Gate at night, another a daytime skyline shot, and yet another a nighttime skyline shot. Has anyone else paid attention to this?

 

[Elena S]

Originally Posted by Corey3rd

Gotta disagree on that count. I don't think their are too many series from 50s - mid-90s that can top the all around talent found on "Oz," "The Wire," "Dexter" and "The Sopranos." The new version of Battlestar Galactica is superior to the original version. Love Boat is fun as a nostalgic artifact of kitsch, but it's as mindless as a test pattern. This first season of Hotel came off as an uptight version of Love Boat. It could have been helped by a sense of humor.

I completely disagree with you on all counts. The material on older shows may not have been as true-to-life as what you watch now but it was infinitely more appealing and entertaining than what is being passed off as drama today. And the actors were just as good as any you see today. The directing was a bit hokey, sure, but we're talking about a different period in our culture. Today everything is too serious and heavy-handed. I'll take the older stuff by a mile over most anything that's on today.

P.S. I hate this new site. I'm having a terrible time just replying to threads.

 

[Gary OS]

Originally Posted by Elena S /forum/thread/284993/hotel-season-1-will-finally-be-released-on-dvd-21st-july/30#post_3590399

 

[Jeff Willis]

That's a 10-4 Elena, & Gary. With y'all all the way. I like a couple of post-80's shows here & there but they're few & far between. No comparison to the (imo) golden age of TV shows, 50's-60's. I consider the 70's a "silver" age.

What? Someone doesn't like the new HTF software? Can't believe it Just kidding. I ain't crazy about it myself. I think we were used to the vBulletin board but I read on the "new software" thread that Ron had to tweek the old Bd frequently to keep it going smooth for us so the change is good in the long run.

 

[Corey3rd]

" Today everything is too serious and heavy-handed."
Monk, The Big Bang Theory and the Simpsons are too serious and heavy-handed? There is humor in Dexter. Even the Wire and the Sopranos had light moments. I understand a certain level of 21st century TV hating on Memory Lane, but must it sound like what my grandfather said about Fred Silverman's Jiggle TV?

Watching the DVD of Hotel just reminded me why I didn't watch it the first time around.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

If you felt like that the first time, there's little chance you're gonna feel differently now, then why did you buy it?

 

[Corey3rd]

I didn't buy it.

 

[Gary OS]

He gets these for free to review them, Henry.

Gary "loving good, old-fashioned 20th century Americana on DVD - not so much 21st century depravity" O.

 

[Elena S]

Originally Posted by Corey3rd ">[/url]

" Today everything is too serious and heavy-handed."
Monk, The Big Bang Theory and the Simpsons are too serious and heavy-handed? There is humor in Dexter. Even the Wire and the Sopranos had light moments. I understand a certain level of 21st century TV hating on Memory Lane, but must it sound like what my grandfather said about Fred Silverman's Jiggle TV?

Watching the DVD of Hotel just reminded me why I didn't watch it the first time around.

[/QUOTE]Wow, you're referencing shows about serial killers and mobsters. Nah, nothing serious or heavy-handed about those.

 

[Aryn Leroux]

I would tend to agree the "fun factor" in the tv landscape today, is just not there the way it used to be. There are a few exceptions with shows like Burn Notice, Leverage which are based on the mold of 80's style shows that were "fun".

 

[Corey3rd]

Originally Posted by Elena S ">[/url]




Wow, you're referencing shows about serial killers and mobsters. Nah, nothing serious or heavy-handed about those.

 

[Rob_Ray]

Originally Posted by Corey3rd




and there's nothing heavy handed about a show taking place in a Nazi prisoner of war camp or the crime ridden ghetto apartment tower in Chicago. No way you can't be nothing, but serious in those places.

You've obviously never seen "Hogan's Heroes" or "Good Times"!

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Those were the ones he was thinking of, probably. But in all seriousness, even in war you do need to turn things around sometimes and have a laugh about the meaninglessness of it all, and joke about the creeps you're fighting against. However, shows about murdering mobsters and serial killers - crime for gain or personal pleasure - I don't think are really suited for too much lightheartedness and (in essence) glorification.

 

[Corey3rd]

Originally Posted by HenryDuBrow

Those were the ones he was thinking of, probably. But in all seriousness, even in war you do need to turn things around sometimes and have a laugh about the meaninglessness of it all, and joke about the creeps you're fighting against. However, shows about murdering mobsters and serial killers - crime for gain or personal pleasure - I don't think are really suited for too much lightheartedness and (in essence) glorification.

But the SS and Gestapo are ripe for humor under your perspective?

 

[Elena S]

Originally Posted by Corey3rd



But the SS and Gestapo are ripe for humor under your perspective?

You are trying to compare apples and oranges -- sitcoms vs. dramas. No comparison.

 

[Corey3rd]

Originally Posted by Elena S




You are trying to compare apples and oranges -- sitcoms vs. dramas. No comparison.

You're just making excuses as to why you can laugh at SS and Gestapo agents versus Dexter or Paulie Walnuts on the Sopranos during their comical moments. Have you even seen either of those shows are are you part of the "I don't watch any television that was broadcasted with a stereo soundtrack" crowd.

Far as the level of drama on Hotel, I ended up watching another Spelling production over the weekend - Family. Now that's a show where the tone and the script match up. The whole Erin Moran episode reminds me too much of the Love Boat with Charo - except they wanted us to take Erin's story way too seriously.