"Better TV/Movies Than They Have Any Right To Be"

[MarkB]

I'll add Firefly to the list. "A Western in space" sounded like a rather anachronistic concept when I first heard about it, but they nailed it thanks to a great cast of well-realised characters.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'll add Firefly to the list. "A Western in space" sounded like a rather anachronistic concept when I first heard about it, but they nailed it thanks to a great cast of well-realised characters.

The same basic pitch also got us the original Star Trek.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think that "Married: With Children" was lightning in a bottle. Other shows tried very similar models and failed miserably. For example does anyone remember "Unhappily Ever After"? I'm betting not despite the fact that it starred redheaded bombshell Nikki Cox.

It was clever and had the right cast to pull it off.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I can't help but feel there's a little bit of ageism at work in some of the examples. "Stuff made for kids" doesn't have to be bad from an adult perspective. Kids' programming isn't all Disney sitcoms (which generally are terrible). Disney animated features, for example, tend to be relatively high quality even for adults - much better than their aforementioned sitcoms on the Disney Channel. And as far as Pixar goes, I think they've made enough of a reputation for themselves that the opposite expectation is probably more appropriate - that the default Pixar movie is expected to be excellent - simply because it's being done by Pixar.

I get that, but I would like to point out that though "stuff made for kids" does not have to be bad from an adult perspective, kids TV/movies get away with being bad more than TV/movies for adults. Kids will watch nearly anything, adults are much more particular/picky.

That's why it's often surprising when "kids movies/TV" end up being very well made, especially when the basis of the movie/TV show sounds like an awful idea. Kung Fu Pana is just what it says it is, it's about a talking Panda that does Kung Fu. Despicable Me is about a stereotypical mad scientist that adopts 3 kids. Megamind is where the most stereotypically over-the-top villain "defeats" not-Superman and gets everything he wanted. The main character of Shrek is a swamp-dwelling ogre that goes on a quest to rescue a princess, who then falls in love with him.

The basis of these movies sound dumb, and being "kids movies" means that our overall expectations of them are lower than that of typical movies that adults watch. That's why they're commonly mentioned here. It's not ageism, even if there is commonly a correlation here.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I’ll see your Robocop (which is one of the all-time great SF action movies, plus a wonderful satire of... well, America) and raise you Demolition Man, which qualifies for the thread, I do believe.

Denis Leary made that movie with the way he can deliver a line.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

A far better use of Stallone than that horrible "Judge Dredd" in name only movie.

Depends on your tastes. I much prefer the Dredd movie with Karl Urban to the Stallone version.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Some comedies:

Who’s the Man
Hollywood Shuffle
And God Spoke
Airplane

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Oh!

Dragonslayer
Tremors

 

[Ryujin]

The same basic pitch also got us the original Star Trek.

To be precise, it was pitched as a "Wagon Train to the stars." Wagon Train was a western TV show that ran from 1957 to 1964, and was hugely popular.

 

[Ryujin]

Depends on your tastes. I much prefer the Dredd movie with Karl Urban to the Stallone version.

The Stallone Dredd movie was terrible, as I mentioned. Karl Urban took the source material seriously and the movie did one of the main things that defined the original; if Dredd didn't have his helmet on, you only saw him in silhouette. You never see his whole face.