What about the Law and Orders? I have never watched the show's but Kera Sedwick in the closer or the other TNT show about the girl US Marshal might fit, they aren't terribly masculine. You do bring up a great point though. You want to know what show does fit that mold? Real Housewives of Whatever, just kidding of course. What's equally annoying is that every sitcom has a fat stupid man (Homer Simpsonesque) that is a total and complete simpelton. Just one time I would have liked to seen Al Bundy and his friends beat Peg and her friends in bowling. I think what the thinking man really need's is a wide variety. I would love to start my night off with thirty minuets of sports and general news updates, followed by an interesting non-fiction piece (America the History of Us, Nat Geo's special on Drugs, ect...) Then I would like an hour of entertainment, (True Blood, Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad) give me a quick half hour of some nude women and end my night with news and or a talk show. Pure and simple I need ESPN, History Channel, FX and NBC all combined.
It's July. The Tour de France is on. Nothing else even matters. Three weeks. 2200 miles. Much suffering. ...and even though Lance is done for GC contention forever, here are some tribute highlights. Descent: Ascent: General:
I'll take a crack at it. - For starters, a show that was a blend of the man show, jackass, and a few elements of the discovery channel. Have a couple guys host it (lose the kid) while they show clips relating to whatever the topic(s) was that week. The topics would range from sex, making hilariously ill fated bets with each other, hanging out with experts in various outdoor activities, etc while maintaining only a semi-serious tone. - A couple hours of sports, but not straight reporting and highlights (just keep espn for that). Instead, just a couple topics each day that go in depth. Separate blocks for each sport so people can skip the ones they're not interested in. Maybe like half an hour each for football, baseball, basketball, and then another half hour for whatever major tournaments are going on in soccer, golf, tennis, etc. Try to give it a more authentic fan's perspective than sportscasters without obsessing over minute details like Mel Keiper. - A show that consisted of guys souping up cars, blowing shit up, and building a random assortment of goofy, but cool contraptions. - Military documentary hour. Covers everything from tactics in history's most important battles, character examinations of generals, and the mentality/training/structure armies from different eras were built upon. Maybe have a separate show that focused on weapons. - World's most awesome predators killing shit. Self explanatory. - Late night from 1-4a.m. all porn. It should cover a variety of tastes, but leave extreme fetish features like 8 dudes blowing their load on a girl shoving pickles up her ass on the internet. An all man channel that was properly done seems to good to be true. If it ever happened I'd gladly cough up the few extra bucks a month to get it.
I'm impressed with a lot of ideas in this topic. There are so many good ones it might require not one, but several channels. To add to "Sniper's Journal" and "One-Man Team" on the first page, there is some more original programming my channel should have; Story of the Gun- My favorite documentary of all time was the one of the same name on A&E, and it desperately needs to be brought back as a regular series. Going over all the guns, the evolution of matchlocks and wheellocks to flintlocks, a look at different antique firearms, a comparison of handguns and machine guns today, etc. We would have experts on the show going over mechanical details, doing re-enactments, shooting targets, etc. This would be part of the same programming block as "Sniper's Journal". History's Greatest Battles- Yeah, a few others have mentioned it, but this is a great idea for any man show. No censorship here, either; we would go over all the gory, unpleasant details surrounding the actual confrontation, whether it's death by dysentry, rape of the local women, etc. Riveting television. The Mad Prophet Half Hour- After watching Network (1976), one of the greatest films ever, it's my belief that a television station should have a partially crazy man rant non-stop about the government, or taxes, etc. as part of the "news". For fuck's sake, it's more genuine and intelligent than what they're doing now. If it got stale with one guy, we could always mix it up.
To expand on that, it would be awesome to see at least parts of it in re-enactment and have a critique of the tactics. Then, in later episodes have those tactics cross referenced to show where they've been used in other battles and the points of difference.
It's not true. It's really only true in America. I notice that European directors are more likely to have some kickass girls in the lead roles without trivializing them. Case in point: La Femme Nikita.
The fact that out of all the responses I've received, there have been three semi-solid examples of a female-led show/movie in all of contemporary media and that just proves my point. Buffy is considered by many to be one of the best shows on TV (I swear, read up on it) and surprise, surprise it has a three-dimensional female lead that DOESN'T require a bunch of dudes supporting her. I still think she has masculine qualities but that's due to the nature of the show. Powerpuff girls are a cartoon but they count, good find. I haven't seen La Femme Nikita but even if I had, my response would be: why can't people come up with examples in American cinema? I guess it makes me sound like a feminist but there is a staggering difference between good male and good female characters in fiction and it's unnerving to say the least. edit: Bunny would be proud of me.
I'm pretty sure someone pitched this once upon a time. Truly, it is an excellent idea. But then Spike execs decided that what viewers really like seeing isn't a critical, in-depth analysis of battle tactics and their various applications--it's gel torsos filled with blood bags, pig carcasses hung from meat hooks, and three obviously biased show hosts that do little more than stand around pointing at puncture wounds and shouting "WHOA, MAN, LOOK AT THAT!" as dubious "experts" compete to prove the superiority of their weaponry/culture. In short, Deadliest Warrior. (Don't mind me, I'm still bitter about the Sun Tzu loss to Vlad the Impaler. Those hacks didn't take tactics into account WHATSOEVER and pulled some bullshit cheap shots in the "reenactment".)
I just visited the site for that series, and it looks fucking awful. You really need an entire show to decide who would win between musketeers and Ming warriors? Does the fact that the former had firearms centuries ahead of what the Ming did, effective tactics and formations for quickly firing round after round as the previous line reloaded, and I don't know...SUCCESSFULLY CONQUERED/OCCUPIED CHINA mean nothing? Sun Tzu versus Vlad the Impaler? What the fuck does that even mean? Tzu was a general and military strategist. What army would he fight with? Vlad the Impaler had an average-sized army and kingdom compared to others in Europe at the time which was remarkable for nothing except his hatred of the Ottoman and method of execution. Roman centurion versus some weird-ass old Indian warrior? Again, wasn't this question settled when the Persians and later Greeks easily conquered the Indian subcontinent, both of whom (especially the Persians) were far inferior soldiers to centurions? Maybe the main thing we need isn't new shows with creative ideas, but shows that aren't fucking retarded.
Oh, don't you know? It means that Sun Tzu fights in hand-to-hand combat with Vlad the Impaler, no armies. Just two leaders. Because only a 'Voldemort versus Potter' matchup would EVER accurately determine who is the better "warrior". No strategy either--they both happen to meet unexpectedly while meandering in unfamiliar terrain that doesn't appear to be from either of their territories. This doesn't stop Sun Tzu from climbing into a tree and using attack techniques that run completely contrary to everything he preaches in The Art of War. Nor does it stop Vlad from lubing up a tree limb and running it up Sun Tzu's backside (where did the lube come from? Probably delivered via time-travel from the creepy "expert" with the black fingernail polish!) as the perfect episode ending. I watch because I like learning about ancient weaponry. That part is an excellent idea. But the rest of it needs a complete overhaul. EDIT: My bad. Vlad was the only one meandering. Sun Tzu was taking dainty sips of freshly brewed tea from his travel-ready china cup.
I prefer the following scene: [Windswept plain that looks suspiciously like a back lot to a studio] [Actor Playing Vlad] "Hey, chink! I'm calling you out. Your breath smells like hundred year old egg, and I'm gonna fuck you up. You be seeing fireworks when I'm done. Let's get it on, dawg!" [Actor Playing Tzu] "Fuck you butt boy! I sick of you carry of like you got stick up your ass. Watch me get my Tai Chi." [Mano e mano fight] I'm pretty sure that's historical accurate.
The History Channel exists and is pretty awesome as far as TV goes. Shows like "Megastructures" on National Geographic are fantastic as well. Basically anything that discusses great engineering feats is worthy viewing. I am not much for nature documentaries but surely they would qualify as well. Or, y'know, 24 hour marathons of The Hills. Fuck yeah.