Late night TV watching

GSN has this bizarre game show where you can win money from home (TBS has one too, "Midnight Money Madness"): http://www.gsn.com/playmania/

 

Good call on Mission Hill, though, like The Oblongs, it seems to be the same few episodes over and over.

I usually stick with the Discovery Channel until it goes off the air and then see what Animal Planet has to offer.

 

I like the really old game shows they play on GSN late at night . . . Kitty Carlisle--woohoo!

Also, I've heard that The Movie Channel plays soft-core late at night. I, of course, would have no personal knowledge of this.

 

Well, in defense of The Oblongs, it consisted entirely of, what, 13 episodes?

That was a funny, funny show. Extremely warped. For a while this spring, Cartoon Network had Family Guy followed by Oblongs. Some hearty laughs in that hour.

 

I got The Oblongs on DVD, but I still watch it whenever it comes on. That was a great, great show.

Are they still making Mission Hill episodes?

 

And Mission Hill had I think 12, though there's an animatic of Episode 16 on youtube. And here it is!

And maybe the funniest scene of the series:

 

Maybe so, but I still think it's the best half-hour show ever produced ... whether it was a sitcom, dramedy, whatever. And I don't think it's close.

True, like Shot, I didn't pay attention to the sermonizing until we had some discussions of this on the board. Still, I think it was a neat move by the powers-to-be to let the actors evolve the roles. Some would say that's not acting, and I'd disagree. The show was sharp in bringing in new characters to replace the departed without missing a beat. And one item that wasn't discussed above was bringing in Charles Emerson Winchester III to replace Frank Burns, which I think is almost as critical as Potter/Blake. A much smarter foil for Hawkeye and BJ than Frank ever was, with a much better ability to put that silly crap away when the situation warranted it.

(BTW, count me in on watching the M*A*S*H block on Hallmark ... )

Also, if something worthwhile is worth following on ESPN or ESPNews, or a good film. Lots of DVDs also come in handy for late-night winddowns.

 

Agreed. M*A*S*H had its problems towards the end, but I don't think character development was one of them. If we assume that Hawkeye and Hot Lips, as the main characters to go wire-to-wire on the show, were in Korea for most of the war, then how could they NOT have changed? In Pierce's case the metamorphosis was a little overtly dramatic, but they nailed Margaret's evolution perfectly. And realistically, you have to introduce players with unique perspectives when they're replacing originals -- anyone who tries to act like Blake or Burns or Trapper John is going to be labeled a cheap imitation in short order.

The problem, of course, was the sermonizing, but there's another factor that I didn't put my finger on until recently: the comedy-heavy episodes were more corny than zany, veering towards tradtional sitcom territory than the inmates-running-the-asylum frenticness of the Blake/Trapper-era episodes. The Boxing Day episode, while it had its laughs, felt like an episode of Kate and Allie against a South Korean backdrop. That bothered me, but until just now I didn't know why.

Of course, the mere fact we can be making these distinctions meant that it survived as a viable show long enough to allow us to do it, so in that regard, even the worst of M*A*S*H remains a seminal part of American television lore. But once Klinger stopped wearing dresses, you knew they had long since turned a corner in their world ...

 

In addition to the constant preaching from Hawkeye and B.J. on the later episodes, one of my big problems with the show is how Margaret turns into a platinum blonde whose makeup is always perfect. Yet she's supposed to be in a war zone. Uh, no.

 

My late-night faves are Miami Vice and Homicide: Life on the Streets on the Sleuth channel. Great stuff.

 

On Friday's I'll usually watch Futurama, Family Guy, Oblongs and Mission Hill on TBS. I know Adult Swim had both MH and Oblongs on for a few weeks, until they replaced those with Peewee's Playhouse. I do like having an hour of Futurama followed by FG though....and I hated it when they mixed it up, having Futurama and FG sandwiched around Peewee.

 

Personally, I enjoy learning how I can make thousands buying properties in foreclosure FOR JUST PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR!!!!