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Modern day classics

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Dick Whitman, Jan 26, 2012.

  1. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Corrections is an incredible book. Just the way you listed it, I think people would have assumed it was a TV show or movie.
     
  2. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    Are we talking "classic" in the sense that every casual person will have watched it? Or "classic" in the sense of critics and moviephiles fawning over it?
     
  3. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Not a bad list, but some of the stuff there is more "cult following" than classic. That's the way I would classify Mulholland Drive and The Wire.

    Sopranos is a good call. One of these days I'll give The Wire a second shot, but I really wanted to get into it and I just didn't.

    I don't know if there is anything on the networks these days that we'll be watching in syndication 20 years from now. I love Modern Family, but I don't think I would put classic on it the way I would with a show like Cheers or Seinfeld.

    It will be interesting to see how Avatar holds up. I think it will from a technological standpoint.

    Even 20 years later T2 still seems pretty cool.

    I read the same 5-6 authors. Pahlaniuk, McInerey, Perrotta, Easton Ellis, Elmore Leonard... Not sure I would consider any of it classic, but it's what I like...

    Good call on The Dark Knight. I think that one definitely has legs.

    I love The Departed. One of my favorite movies of the last 10 years, but I don't think too many people agree with me.
     
  4. HC

    HC Well-Known Member

    I think "Deadwood" belongs on this list. And if we're talking "The Office", I'll take the British original over the American version.
     
  5. Gehrig

    Gehrig Active Member

    How about Gladiator? It's no Ben-Hur, but I think it will still be shown thirty years from now.
     
  6. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Oh, without a doubt.

    "Avatar" because it will be seen as an enormous 3D turning point. My guess is that 20 years from now, maybe less, we won't be able to imagine TV and movies before 3D. "Avatar" was the first one to get it right.

    "The Office" was a turning point, as well, in large part because of the format. No laugh track. Single camera. Plus, the first three seasons were comedy gold. It's easy to forget that now. The sitcom was dying when "The Office" emerged, largely overtaken by "Survivor" and "American Idol" and other contest shows that were easier to produce. In particular, the sitcom was dying on network television. It will be seen as a landmark series.
     
  7. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Either/or, really. There are books, movies, and series from the past that everyone watched or read, but aren't classics. On the other hand, there are critics' favorites that were universally lauded that aren't classics, either. But some that are.

    It seems like a feel thing more than anything.
     
  8. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    It seems like it's really difficult these days for something to build up universal love. "The Departed" is a great example. It became fashionable to hammer it. Not that it's not flawed, of course. But "Sunset Boulevard" and "The Graduate" have flaws, too. People overlook them. Nowadays, flaws don't get overlooked. They are a death sentence for many.

    Audiences are just do discriminating these days.
     
  9. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Yeah, I don't agree on The Office at all. To each their own...
     
  10. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    I'm with HC. The original British Ricky Gervais Office is brilliant.

    The Americans took it, removed the darkness and turned it into an above average American sitcom. That's about it.
     
  11. dreunc1542

    dreunc1542 Active Member

    The feeling I get as what critics consider the four classic dramas of the past decade or so are/will be:

    Sopranos
    The Wire
    Breaking Bad
    Mad Men

    I would absolutely add Arrested Development as it is quite a bit smarter and funnier than even the best of the Office, and I loved the early seasons of the Office.
     
  12. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    The British "Office" will probably be considered the groundbreaker. Personally, it lost me at the inflatable penis gag early on. Just very sophmoric and unfunny and it seems to get a pass on that kind of thing because: (1) It's British; (2) It makes up for it, for the most part.

    I think it's easy now to bag on the American "Office" because it's watered down and has become an enormous mass success. But those first three seasons, and some of the fourth perhaps, were classic.

    And agreed on "Arrested Development" to those who brought it up.
     
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