TV shows getting overly formulamatic.

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randy
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Re: TV shows getting overly formulamatic.

Post by randy »

Speaking of TV formulas, anyone else noticed over the years that playing a version of All Along the Watchtower is code for "this shit just got real" and the protagonists are going into righteous kick-ass mode?

First noticed in Tour of Duty back in the 80's (they used Dylan 's and Hendrix's versions in 2 different episodes) and most recently noted it in the commercial for The Martian.
...even before I read MHI, my response to seeing a poster for the stars of the latest Twilight movies was "I see 2 targets and a collaborator".
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SoupOrMan
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Re: TV shows getting overly formulamatic.

Post by SoupOrMan »

dfwmtx wrote:Those are on American Heroes Channel (formerly the Military Channel) now. Not Americans, not heroes.
Yeah, I've noticed that. The American Heroes Channel! A network devoted to serial killers, organized criminals and Nazis!
Remember, folks, you can't spell "douche" without "Che."

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MiddleAgedKen
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Re: TV shows getting overly formulamatic.

Post by MiddleAgedKen »

randy wrote:Speaking of TV formulas, anyone else noticed over the years that playing a version of All Along the Watchtower is code for "this shit just got real" and the protagonists are going into righteous kick-ass mode?

First noticed in Tour of Duty back in the 80's (they used Dylan 's and Hendrix's versions in 2 different episodes) and most recently noted it in the commercial for The Martian.
Don't forget the four "submerged" Cylon skinjob models in Battlestar Galactica. It was the trigger.
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Jericho941
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Re: TV shows getting overly formulamatic.

Post by Jericho941 »

I'm really getting sick of the "if only they had x or y, the Axis would have won!" schtick. I mean, that's always been a fairly popular oversell of the stakes in WW2, but the Hitler Channel loved to turn it up to 11. If Operation Barbarossa never happened. If the Me 262 had been fielded faster. If the Maus ever got out of the prototype phase. If the J9Y made it into mass production. If only, if only, if only...

Yeah, and if only your aunt had balls...

'Cause, a couple things. Most people making these kinds of statements are forgetting a lot.

1.) The Allies were constantly developing their own tech, too. The US alone cancelled a ton of expensive wonder weapon projects because either the concept they were centered around was rapidly becoming obsolete, or for the cost involved you'd see a marginal improvement that would likely be obsolete shortly postwar, or just as soon as production got started on The Best Thing Ever, an even better thing would come along. As great of a story it might've made if the Montana class got to slug it out with Yamato or Musashi, for example, it just wasn't gonna happen. So, an Axis wonder weapon hitting the field might cause some devastation at first, then it'd go the way of the Zero.

2.) There's no guarantee that a prototype wonder weapon would change anything if it made it to the fight. It might actually suck. The Panther tank, for example, was rushed to the field with inadequate R&D, and its first showing at Kursk in 1943 was abysmal. After the Germans made every improvement they could to the Panther, it performed well as long as it actually made it there without breaking down, something often easier said than done. After the war, the French used some recaptured Panthers to rebuild its military, and they thoroughly evaluated its pros and cons.* A major con brings me to #3:

3.) "If only" they had the skilled crews necessary to operate the wunderwaffe. The reasons why this would never happen could fill a book, but the short answer is: Outdated training programs, bad force structure, and simple attrition. For a Japanese example: Pilots and planes. Unlike US carrier squadrons, Japanese squadrons were tied to their ships. If one carrier sustained heavy losses, the carrier would be useless until its squadrons' numbers could be rebuilt and trained. If a US carrier took heavy losses, a replacement squadron would be rotated in, dramatically shortening the time it took to bring a carrier back to effective fighting strength.

4.) A lot of "if only's" center on having the resources to produce great weapons in sufficient numbers. Well, sure. But then you start eliminating a large chunk of why the war happened in the first place. You can play around with this one for some interesting alternate history fiction and stretch the war out by a few years, but that's about it.

5.) The Allies had a clue about combined arms. Although Germany had commanders that understood and embraced the concept, they were often hamstrung by idiotic, internal turf disputes. The Japanese elevated interservice rivalry to a work of surrealist art. The IJA resented the IJN so much, they started trying to build their own ships, troop transports and even submarines to avoid relying on the IJN. The IJN was not without its own bizarre quirks, like considering the idea of escorting merchant ships to be beneath them. The US submarine fleet made them pay dearly for that arrogance.

6.) There aren't a lot of "if only's" that deal with infantry technology. By the time the Japanese recognized that their small arms were outdated, it was too late. Their attempts at updating their weapons only compounded the logistical nightmare that they were dealing with.

Invariably, most of the "if only's" only result in prolonging the war, and the endgame remains the same: The US goes nuclear, then goes wild on both fronts. Which brings us to the biggest "if only": If only the Axis nuke program had been successful. Yeah, no. Wasn't gonna happen. They were never even close.

*The conclusions were decidedly mixed.
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Kommander
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Re: TV shows getting overly formulamatic.

Post by Kommander »

Jericho941 you make some good points. An issue that is totally skipped over by allot of people are the logistics of warfare. Think of all the Whereaboo tears that would result if games like War Thunder had realistic chances of breakdown and equipment failures.
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Mike OTDP
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Re: TV shows getting overly formulamatic.

Post by Mike OTDP »

SoupOrMan wrote:
People aren't going to wake up one morning and want to watch a show about the cursus honorum no matter how scantily-clad the English-accented actresses are.
I'm not so sure. Sell it as, "How to Become a Roman Emperor." Get a post, get a command, move up. Grab the opportunity when it offers itself.
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Mike OTDP
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Re: TV shows getting overly formulamatic.

Post by Mike OTDP »

Having said that, the big headache is that historical shows cost money to produce. "Reality" shows are dirt cheap.

Solution? Hold a contest! You offer a prize - say $100K - for the best 42-minute historical video (that's one hour with commercials). Take the top 15-20 entries, broadcast them. Viewers get to vote. Maybe even offer a second prize.

Modern consumer video gear is good enough to produce 1080p video of decent quality. And there are a lot of folks that are willing to do it.

Otherwise, try YouTube. There's a shocking amount of decent material available these days. Older documentaries, etc.
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