XPost: rec.arts.sf.tv   
   From: psperson@old.netcom.invalid   
      
   On Sat, 7 Feb 2026 09:28:08 +0000, "Blueshirt"    
   wrote:   
      
   >Lawrence DOliveiro wrote:   
   >   
   >> On Fri, 6 Feb 2026 07:55:45 -0500, The True Melissa wrote:   
   >> >    
   >> > A lot of people say that. I see an important difference   
   >> > between a show about space exploration which has some    
   >> > social messages and a show about social messages which has    
   >> > some space exploration.   
   >>    
   >> Science fiction, like any other kind of fiction, has to be   
   >> about the people. The gadgets, the technology, the alien   
   >> setting, whether elsewhere or elsewhen or elsewhatever ...   
   >> these are always secondary. Of course they have to be a key   
   >> part of the plot, but the story must always be the thing. And   
   >> the story is always about the people.   
   >   
   >I don't know if proper people are writing modern television   
   >scripts or if it's just AI, or maybe the scripts are originally   
   >drafted by AI then tweaked by a person? But the stories we get   
   >in shows nowadays just seem so bland. Maybe I am just old and   
   >have seen it all before?   
   >   
   >When I watch an episode of a sci-fi [ish] type of show now   
   >nothing 'grabs' me and keeps me glued to the narrative... I   
   >could probably get up and make a cup of tea without pausing it   
   >and I still wouldn't have missed anything when I come back.   
   >Modern writers seem to have lost the basic skill of writing an   
   >entertaining story that will keep people engaged.   
      
   A lot of the older TV was the same. And it couldn't be paused.   
      
   I did a lot of homework paying vague attention to the TV in the   
   background.   
      
   I don't know what he is doing currently, but in the past my brother   
   basically played the TV (VHS, DVD, Comcast as time went on) all the   
   time when he was home, as background noise.   
      
   That was no problem for me, of course, except when I woke up at 1:30AM   
   to the sound of the MGM lion roaring at about 150 decibels. That was a   
   bit much.   
      
   And I long ago noticed that, while I could ignore the TV show itself,   
   the commercials often won my attention. This is how I determined that   
   the commercials were better done than the shows: I actually enjoyed   
   watching some of them, greeting them as old friends.   
      
   I solved the problem by only wanting what I actually /wanted/ to   
   watch. Why waste time on mediocre triviality?   
   --    
   "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,   
   Who evil spoke of everyone but God,   
   Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)