BIG BANG THEORY renewed for another three years

Quote: Nareed

I didn't know that.

I haven't seen it in decades. I wonder what it would look like to me now...

Star Trek started on Thursdays on NBC in 1966, and ABC aired Green Hornet (spin off from Lone Ranger) and The Time Tunnel on Fridays. Even back then Friday was not a good night for television as people went out, so Green Hornet and Time Tunnel only lasted on season. They put Star Trek on Fridays and it lasted two more seasons.

Irwin Allen was considered the sci-fi god in the 1960's with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, and Land of the Giants. It was only afterwards that Gene Roddenberry was honored as the creator of modern sci-fi television. A bit of trivia is that Gene Roddenberry and Irwin Allen died with a week of one another in 1991.

Time Tunnel would have shot a final episode where the two heros return safely to the present, but they didn't have warning that the show would cancel. So they got the idea of creating the coming attractions on the final episode from clips from the pilot, thus building the idea of an infinite time loop for the characters.

Quote: Pacomartin

Irwin Allen was considered the sci-fi god in the 1960's with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, and Land of the Giants.

I remember all those. I kind of liked Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, though I kept wondering just how difficult reaching the bottom was. One thing, though, is they all struck me as SF being made by people who didn't know what SF is. That may be unfair. More likely it was SF made for people who don't know what SF is.

Among the chatter around the release of TNG's first movie, "Generations," one of the producer, who'd also produced the TV show, said the movies have to cater to the fans, but also to the vast public who only have a dim notion of what Trek is. He explained this involved adding some exposition like pointing out Worf is a Klingon.

Quote:

It was only afterwards that Gene Roddenberry was honored as the creator of modern sci-fi television.

Roddenberry definitely knew SF. Better, he knew Golden Age SF.

Quote:

Time Tunnel would have shot a final episode where the two heros return safely to the present, but they didn't have warning that the show would cancel. So they got the idea of creating the coming attractions on the final episode from clips from the pilot, thus building the idea of an infinite time loop for the characters.

As it was, they did fit in three eps that, by all rights, should have waited for the series to mature. I don't recall them well, but they involve 1) Meeting Tony as a child in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 6th 1941, 2) A jaunt to the future that exposes secrets in the present, and 3) A Soviet time tunnel project. So maybe they had a notion they wouldn't last long.

BTW, one ep in B5's first season, "Babylon Squared," deals with time travel. When I first saw it, I thought "this is the kind of ep that should wait for the series to grow up a bit first." I still think so, but had they not done it, they couldn't have sent off Sinclair satisfactorily in Season's 3 "War Without End." Thus JMS proves he can twist the plot into a pretzel and have it come out all right anyway. He had to do it again at least twice more, curiously involving the talented Pat Tallman's character, Lyta, both times.

Quote: Nareed

I haven't seen it in decades. I wonder what it would look like to me now...

Quantum Leap? Prime has all the seasons
and I looked at a couple eps the other day.
Unwatchable. Cheesy effects and really
awful stories. They used the time travel
gimmick to go somewhere and fight some
80's liberal cause or problem. No matter
what period he went to, they were having
the same liberal problems we had in the
1980's. Amazing.

Quote: Evenbob

They used the time travel gimmick to go somewhere and fight some 80's liberal cause or problem. No matter what period he went to, they were having
the same liberal problems we had in the 1980's. Amazing.

British TV is exactly like that. You see some if it in Foyle's War. This photo from Dr. Who shows a same sex married couple, but one of them happens to be a lizard.



Real life lesbian couple who dressed up like the characters in Dr Who for their themed wedding. Not quite as pretty as the actresses.

Quote: Pacomartin

British TV is exactly like that.

It's why I could never watch the Star
Trek spinoffs. They were sci-fi that
fought all the same liberal issues
of the period they were on. The
sci-fi was just a gimmick to get the
producers political agenda across.
Even the original Star Trek series
had touchy feely Roddenbury
themes in a lot of the episodes.

One of my all time favorite shows growing up that had a bit of a sci-fi twist
The Prisoner
I am not number 6. Who is number 1 :-)

Quote: terapined

The Prisoner

Leo McKern is one of my all time favorite actors.

His best line is "She who must be obeyed" which is actually a quote from Henry Rider Haggard's 1886 novel. But Leo McKern made the quote his own.

After 5 weeks of the new season, TBBT (season #10) still remains the number one comedy by far. While still ranked #2, "Modern Family" (season #8) is barely above the other two ABC sitcoms, "The Goldbergs" (season #4) and "The Middle" (season #8). At least they don't seem high enough to justify the $100+ million cast salary.

Matt Le Blanc's heavily promoted new sitcom, "Man with a Plan" debuted in week #6 above Modern Family, but pilots with famous cast members tend to get high ratings for their debut. The pilot would not have seemed out of place in "Leave it to Beaver" except for the Latina school teacher and the iPads. Critical reviews were generally terrible.

SITCOMS AT WEEK #5


"The Simpsons" now in season #28 is increasing it's numbers again. As it will end the season with 618 episodes, it will almost certainly be renewed for another 22 episode season so it has more episodes than Gunsmoke (635 episodes). They will never be able to resist breaking the record.

Quote: Pacomartin

After 5 weeks of the new season, TBBT (season #10) still remains the number one comedy by far.

Last season? Or will there be another one?

I still laugh. I still enjoy it. But part of me wants to see the storylines wrapped up.

On the other hand, their military-backed project is supposed to take two years...

Quote: Nareed

Last season? Or will there be another one?

After 300 episodes of Michael Weatherly playing Anthony DiNozzo on NCIS for CBS, the show seems to have survived his leaving. Weatherley's new show, "Bull" which follows NCIS is by far the most watched new show this season.

It seems almost impossible to believe that CBS won't try to split TBBT into two shows and collect revenue for an hour of commercials.

Look at Kunal Nayyar as Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali. He sometimes delivers less than 20 lines in an episode and he is being paid $700K-$800K per episode.

Quote: Raj lines

Series 9 Episode 24 – The Convergence Convergence
Raj: You sure?
Raj: You’re right. You realize what this means?
Raj: Congratulations.
Raj: Open it.
Raj: Is there a window around here we don’t know about?
Raj: Yeah, of course. What else could it be? Boy, do I love America.

Raj: Okay, look, I’m on the Air Force Web site, and the department that e-mailed you is in charge of acquisitions. So maybe they just want to give you a lot of money for your invention.
Raj: No, I was just thinking about Jurassic World. Boy, that was terrible.

Raj: You can’t ignore it. It’s not that postcard that says it’s time to go back to the dentist.

Raj: Oh, dude. The minute you opened that e-mail, they knew you got it. I mean, they’re probably looking at you through the camera right now. I love America.
Raj: Oh, if it’s even the U.S. Military. It could be foreign military pretending to be American.
Raj: I also love the enemies of America.


Raj: Howard, there must be someone at the university you can go to for help.
Raj: What about the guy on the Channel Four News? You know, Four on Your Side? Maybe he can be on your side.
Raj: I’d like to think the Four on Your Side guy cares about me.

Raj: Uh, turn left here and see if he turns with us.
Raj: Oh, no.

Raj: I, I think he wants us to pull over.