What are you watching (bingeing) these days?

[PatientZombie]

zookeeper, grown ups 2?

[NerdAlert]

Not seen, but I’m sure they’re comedic gold.

[twig93]

@OldTimer

Just wondering. Do you react this way to all shows with a premise that you don’t like? Or are you looking for a reason not to like something a lot of others like?

I have to understand the premise.

The premise can be ridiculous, as it was in The Good Place (which I loved), but I have to understand what it is.

[NormalDan]

@twig93

as it was in The Good Place (which I loved)

, great show

[twig93]

That said, understanding the premise is a necessary but insufficient criteria. It makes no difference if others like the show.

Like, tons of people loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I understood that premise just fine.

But I hated both the premise and literally Every.Single.Character in the movie. I couldn’t finish the movie because it was becoming increasingly apparent that it wasn’t going to end with firing every last character into the sun… which would have been the only satisfying conclusion.

On the other hand, the premise of The Parent Trap is really quite horrible, if you think about it. Yet somehow both the original and (to a lesser extent) the remake are both delightful.

So I think I might have been able to get past the awful premise in ESOTSM if there was anything else redeeming about the movie, but there wasn’t, so I didn’t.

But I don’t even understand what it means to “own a town”.

[NormalDan]

@twig93

“own a town”.

At least in the US, I think it’s as far fetched as it sounds. You literally buy everything, I suppose similar to Walt Disney. I think when people have actually done this it’s to convert a bunch of empty space into some tourist attraction, rather than owning everyone’s house and them paying you rent like a Queen or something.

[twig93]

But if you buy literally everything then wouldn’t you own every house and apartment building?

Instead of living in a POS motel couldn’t you find the nicest home in town and evict the resident and move in?

[OldTimer]

Actuaries being actuaries.

[Vorian_Atreides]

@PatientZombie

[Kevin James’] movies do very little for me

I actually liked him in Hitch.

Agree with this sentiment for most of his other movies, though.

[Vorian_Atreides]

@NerdAlert

except perhaps Chuck and Larry, and that’s more because of Sandler

So you’re saying that Sandler has more influence than James?

[Vorian_Atreides]

Wasn’t there one where he owns a zoo? Zookeeper?

[NormalDan]

@twig93

Instead of living in a POS motel couldn’t you find the nicest home in town and evict the resident and move in?

Yeah that’s what irked me, why are they staying in a crummy motel? That seems completely removed from the ownership.

Hell you could own the town and live in Manhattan with ao fan…

[NerdAlert]

Sandler’s mannerisms annoy me. James’s mannerisms delight me. Chuck and Larry is just…too much Sandler for me, I dunno.

I’m watching Zookeeper now. It seems like a kids’/family movie, so I never watched it. Today is a slow day at work, so here we go.

[John.S.Mill]

@twig93

Like, tons of people loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I understood that premise just fine.

My #1 favorite movie. Watched like probably over 10 times.

[NerdAlert]

@NormalDan

@twig93

Instead of living in a POS motel couldn’t you find the nicest home in town and evict the resident and move in?

Yeah that’s what irked me, why are they staying in a crummy motel? That seems completely removed from the ownership.

Hell you could own the town and live in Manhattan with ao fan…

Because the story is about family, at its barest, and having them remain rich and detached from each other would not create the kind of environment necessary to understand how family is everything, and even rich and dysfunctional families love each other, in their own way.

[John.S.Mill]

@NerdAlert

Because the story is about family, at its barest, and having them remain rich and detached from each other would not create the kind of environment necessary to understand how family is everything, and even rich and dysfunctional families love each other, in their own way.

I do agree with them that if owning a town is literally an infeasible practice, they should’ve thought about it more clearly when they wrote the plot. It seems like an obvious question someone would ask, regardless of how sloppy the writing is.

Why they can’t just kick people out of their house is a very natural question that comes to mind, imo. They could easily make it so that they own the land of the town, for instance.

The thing about bad writing is not that it makes or breaks a show, but that it’s constantly in the background of your head haunting you so that you can’t really enjoy the show.

[Lucy]

@twig93

@OldTimer

Just wondering. Do you react this way to all shows with a premise that you don’t like? Or are you looking for a reason not to like something a lot of others like?

I have to understand the premise.

The premise can be ridiculous, as it was in The Good Place (which I loved), but I have to understand what it is.

So, I’ve seen the first several episodes. And the important premise is that a filthy rich family lost almost everything and has to live in an okay-but-cramped home and has to depend on people they think of as their inferiors.

The details of ownership, etc., are not the point, and aren’t really important to understanding or appreciating the show.

Also, this is a character-driven show, not a plot-driven show.

The hard part for me was that i didn’t like the characters. But they do grow. And some of the secondary characters are very appealing, too.

[John.S.Mill]

@Lucy

The details of ownership, etc., are not the point, and aren’t really important to understanding or appreciating the show.

I’d agree with you if they didn’t spend the second half of the first season trying to cash out on the town they own. It’s not just a trivial point.

[NormalDan]

@Lucy

And the important premise is that a filthy rich family lost almost everything and has to live in an okay-but-cramped home and has to depend on people they think of as their inferiors.

Yeah I got this was the writers’ intention. It just kind of felt like what a lower income person imagines a crazy rich person does, buys a whole town. Sort of like DJT having a gold toilet (who would actually want that?). Thus it’s a mental irk, not necessarily disqualifying if its otherwise funny though. Been bingeing The Office while it’s still on Netflix then will give this show a shot.

[Lucy]

@John.S.Mill

@Lucy

The details of ownership, etc., are not the point, and aren’t really important to understanding or appreciating the show.

I’d agree with you if they didn’t spend the second half of the first season trying to cash out on the town they own. It’s not just a trivial point.

Ah. I haven’t gotten that far.

Anyway, i assume they can’t just kick someone out of a nicer house because people have leases. But i haven’t gotten far enough into the show to know.