posted
So it seems that all the best shows nowadays are on HBO. I have certain religious restrictions against watching sexually suggestive and slightly pornographic material. So for instance, if I'm watching, say, Good Will Hunting, when I come upon the sex scene, I'll look away, mute, or just skip the scene.
However, some shows are so saturated with sex that it becomes a little ridiculous for me to watch.
I know that some people may not respect the particular perspective I have when it comes to TV and movies, but I hope you'll help me out here anyway.
So I've been told that I HAVE to watch True Blood, The Wire, and Dexter. However, in the past, HBO shows have been nothing but sex. I briefly watched Sopranos and Rome and quickly had to put them down. The fact that a song of fire and ice is coming out on HBO makes me need to solve this problem, and fast.
What do you all think? Is there sex in True Blood, Wire and Dexter? If so, is it possible to cut it out by skipping and the like?
posted
Do what I do during fight scenes and zone out.
There's sex in True Blood and if you don't want to see Ana Pacquin naked there are scenes you should skip.
As for Dexter, if it's the sex that's tweaking you out you should probably adjust your priorities.
Can't tell you about the wire. Not really my show.
Rivka, you would be right in detail and wrong in spirit. HBO (and SHO) have a disproportionate number of good shows when compared to other networks/cable channels.
Posts: 7085 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Armoth: So it seems that all the best shows nowadays are on HBO. I have certain religious restrictions against watching sexually suggestive and slightly pornographic material. So for instance, if I'm watching, say, Good Will Hunting, when I come upon the sex scene, I'll look away, mute, or just skip the scene.
However, some shows are so saturated with sex that it becomes a little ridiculous for me to watch.
I know that some people may not respect the particular perspective I have when it comes to TV and movies, but I hope you'll help me out here anyway.
So I've been told that I HAVE to watch True Blood, The Wire, and Dexter. However, in the past, HBO shows have been nothing but sex. I briefly watched Sopranos and Rome and quickly had to put them down. The fact that a song of fire and ice is coming out on HBO makes me need to solve this problem, and fast.
What do you all think? Is there sex in True Blood, Wire and Dexter? If so, is it possible to cut it out by skipping and the like?
Thanks!
Can't say about Wire, but True Blood supposedly has a lot of sex and even nudity. Dexter is relatively tame in the first season, but on the 2nd season it has a lot more sex and nudity because of a heavy romance angle.
I think you can rather easily "skip" the sex on Dexter on the 1st season (which is IMHO also the best), but remember that the show is also VERY graphically violent.
Posts: 273 | Registered: Jul 2009
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posted
The Wire has some nudity and sex but not a lot - I've watched the first 2 1/2 seasons and I think there were probably 4 or 5 instances of brief nudity (though I didn't keep notes). There's non-stop profanity and a ton of drug use and some gruesome violence.
From what I hear "True Blood" is not gonna be your type of show.
Dexter has a lot of sex and nudity. There are a lot of dead or soon-to-be-dead naked people in the show.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Sex is pretty thoroughly interwoven into True Blood; I'd recommend that you just skip it. There is some sex in The Wire, but not a whole lot. It should be fairly easy for you to avoid it.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
I think Dexter aired on CBS with certain bits scrubbed out. Perhaps it will return to broadcast TV?
I'd suggest a service that edits out the offensive stuff but with shows about serial killers, drug dealers, and sexy vampires, you might not end up seeing anything like the original show.
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quote:Originally posted by The Pixiest: HBO (and SHO) have a disproportionate number of good shows when compared to other networks/cable channels.
I have been seriously underwhelmed and unimpressed with almost all the HBO and Showtime shows people have told me I must watch.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by The Pixiest: HBO (and SHO) have a disproportionate number of good shows when compared to other networks/cable channels.
I have been seriously underwhelmed and unimpressed with almost all the HBO and Showtime shows people have told me I must watch.
Lately that's true for me too, but Band of Brothers a few years ago was possibly the best experience I ever had with a television show.
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What I'd say is that I am more easily engrossed by some of the premium cable shows, and it's partly because transgressing basic cable and broadcast standards appeals to the voyeur in me. But. It's also partly because broadcast and basic cable standards encourage tropes that trigger my disbelief. I get annoyed with all the skirting of edges, as it were.
However, NYPD Blue is probably as good a show as I've ever watched. (But note it was on the bleeding edge of what you could broadcast at the time.)
Edit: I'd have to add that I think HBO and Showtime have been more willing to experiment and make shows that are different. The Wire is different from other crime/cop shows I've seen.
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posted
rivka: *shrug* different people different tastes. If everyone liked the same thing we wouldn't need freedom, choice and self discovery.
Posts: 7085 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:Originally posted by The Pixiest: HBO (and SHO) have a disproportionate number of good shows when compared to other networks/cable channels.
I have been seriously underwhelmed and unimpressed with almost all the HBO and Showtime shows people have told me I must watch.
Which shows have you watched and found underwhleming? Any you've watched and been whelmed by? :: curious ::
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Band of brothers really was an amazing show i can't wait for Pacific. As for Trueblood I really like it but if you can't handle sexuality in it's various forms then you really need to avoid Trueblood as sex is completely tied into the plot.
Posts: 305 | Registered: Jan 2008
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posted
I've seen at least parts of episodes of the three mentioned in the OP and disliked 'em all.
I don't recall many others offhand, but probably would if you listed some. Sopranos was also definitely not for me.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: I don't recall many others offhand, but probably would if you listed some. Sopranos was also definitely not for me.
What about Carnivale? If you've seen it and didn't care for it, I'd be interested to know your thoughts on it. It's probably my favorite of the various HBO shows I've seen.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:I have certain religious restrictions against watching sexually suggestive and slightly pornographic material.
FWIW, my wife has similar sensibilities and Dexter and True Blood are both on my list of Shows That I Like That She's Never Going To See.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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quote:I've seen at least parts of episodes of the three mentioned in the OP and disliked 'em all.
Dexter definitely isn't a show that you're going to get into based on "parts of episodes". I'd probably say the same thing about True Blood. I think you'd need to watch two or three episodes, in order, from the beginning of the series, to get a good taste for them.
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posted
The Wire is the same. As, I think, is Rome -- they need to be started at the beginning and watched in order.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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quote:Originally posted by scifibum: rivka, any specific diagnosis? Too raunchy? Boring? Bad acting?
All of the above.
quote:Originally posted by Noemon: What about Carnivale?
Never heard of it. If the wikipedia summary is accurate, I am unlikely to go to any effort to watch it.
quote:Originally posted by MattP: I think you'd need to watch two or three episodes, in order, from the beginning of the series, to get a good taste for them.
Given my feelings on what I saw, why would I bother? It's not like I don't already have over 2 years' worth of various things on my Netflix list.
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quote:Originally posted by Noemon: What about Carnivale?
Never heard of it. If the wikipedia summary is accurate, I am unlikely to go to any effort to watch it.[/QB]
Fair enough. I wasn't trying to convince you to watch it; I was just interested to know what you thought of it if you had.
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Now, if you stuffed me in front of a screen showing it at the next get-together, you might get a more informed opinion. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by twinky: The Wire is the same. As, I think, is Rome -- they need to be started at the beginning and watched in order.
That's true for all of the HBO series that I've followed, really. Each episode is to a chapter in a novel, and watching an episode here and there would be about as involving as taking the same approach with a book.
That said, watching a random episode will likely give someone trying to evaluate the series a good idea of how the series is put together. When I'm considering buying a book I'll often open it up to a random place and read a few pages to see if I like the author's style.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by twinky: The Wire is the same. As, I think, is Rome -- they need to be started at the beginning and watched in order.
That's true for all of the HBO series that I've followed, really. Each episode is to a chapter in a novel, and watching an episode here and there would be about as involving as taking the same approach with a book.
This doesn't always equal "good" of course. The Wire is genuinely good, I think. It bears re-watching and is highly rewarding as a viewing experience. Now, Rome was enjoyable the first time I saw it. It is positively boring to watch a second time- it creeps like a snail, is highly, *highly* repetitive, and you soon realize it's none-too-subtle on the second viewing. I swear, Rome has scenes in it, throughout the series, that could have been spliced in and reused from older episodes again and again- especially from the weakest plot thread, the Attia of the Julei household.
The melodrama is also grating the second time around.
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posted
Noemon -- No, I like dark. It was partly the creepiness, but I could have set that aside (edit: or, more accurately, could have lived with it). It was mostly the glacial pace.
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posted
My problem with Carnivale was the sense that the writers weren't working from a set of rules. I'm with OSC on this: good fantasy needs to have and stick to a defined reality.
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So far the only Showtime shows I've seen are Dexter and Dead Like Me, which were both very good (although Dead Like Me is kinda sluggish and I might not have liked it as much if half of my brain hadn't been doing artwork during the slow parts). Dexter is one of my favorite shows ever, and it absolutely has to be watched from the beginning.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Breaking Bad. My favorite shows have all been Showtime or HBO shows (Deadwood, Rome, Carnivale, Oz, Six Feet Under, Dexter, etc) and Breaking Bad fits in right along side them. It feels like an HBO show, even though it's on AMC.
There are only a couple of instances of on-screen sex that I remember, though there is a lot of violence.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Armoth: I have certain religious restrictions against watching sexually suggestive and slightly pornographic material.
Hmm. Like, is the "and" pivotal here? If something is sexually suggestive but it is arguably within a creative intent divorced from pornographic intent, is that okay, or does nudity or even just sexually suggestive themes in and of themselves invalidate it?
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Armoth: I have certain religious restrictions against watching sexually suggestive and slightly pornographic material.
Hmm. Like, is the "and" pivotal here? If something is sexually suggestive but it is arguably within a creative intent divorced from pornographic intent, is that okay, or does nudity or even just sexually suggestive themes in and of themselves invalidate it?
For me, the biggest problem is nudity. I watch most shows on prime-time without a problem, even if they have something too raunchy for me, it is brief enough that i can get away with looking away or at least by skipping. It sounds like, of the shows I mentioned, only True Blood should be problematic.
I'm a little annoyed since I would have liked to watch Deadwood.
Yea, Rivka - I'm curious to know what shows you watch.
(thanks for all your responses)
Posts: 1604 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:From the people who brought you There Will Be Blood, in partnership with TomDavidson,
There Will Almost Certainly Be Sex.
I would almost certainly watch this high quality Tom Davidson production!
Hehehehe. I think I'd rather watch that than something called "There Will Be Blood." Blood is scary, Sex, not so much.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: Rivka, what kinds of shows do you like?
Judging by my Netflix queue, shows from the 80s and 90s. (Currently re-watching The Cosby Show, in the past year or so have watched or re-watched Moonlighting, Remington Steele, Here Come the Brides, Cadfael, Northern Exposure, Doogie Hoswer, Lois & Clark, and Quantum Leap.)
More recent shows that I have enjoyed: Pushing Daisies, Brothers & Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, Big Bang Theory, Stargate (both), Private Practice. I love Teri Hatcher but find Desperate Housewives nauseating, annoying, and sometimes worse. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:I think the second season of Dexter may be problematic too.
While there is nudity (I think), isn't it rather brief?
But yeah, I can't help but think something is off when you can watch someone cut someone's jugular vein with a power tool, but can't see his girlfriend naked in the next scene...
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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quote:I think the second season of Dexter may be problematic too.
While there is nudity (I think), isn't it rather brief?
But yeah, I can't help but think something is off when you can watch someone cut someone's jugular vein with a power tool, but can't see his girlfriend naked in the next scene...
Yeah, again, I'd rather see the nudity. Nudity is natural and nice... and it's usually not as scary.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
The question is a religious one. While I'd not like to see violence, and I'd probably look away bc I tend to be squeamish, I can't think of any prohibitions that are related to violence.
As for perspectives on nudity and stuff - I understand why someone would prefer nudity to violence. But again, speaking in the religious realms - nudity is more problematic than violence.
(It should be noted that one loses control more often when it comes to nudity as opposed to violence. It should also be noted that if one makes sure not to expose himself to nudity outside the bedroom, this makes the bedroom into a special place, and suffers little competition from the outside world. It should further be noted that violence in tv is staged, while nudity, is quite real.)
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