Victory Soap v. 2.0

Nope. You're not alone. The only recent TV series I've even seen more than an episode of was Firefly (which we bought on DVD), and even for that it took us like well over a year to get all the way through 'em (I think the "season" was something like two and a half months worth or something) ...it's pretty much a conversation killer when you ask Tony Who? Never seen Friends (only know the name from seeing it mentioned in various comments). Ditto for the Sopranos. Hmm. I may not have been a "loyal viewer" of a TV series since the original Star Trek, now I think on't (except for FF: which I was assured by other sci-fi'ests was worth it ...and it was, pretty much). Gave it up somewhere back then.

Haven't owned a TV since 1974, and I don't miss it. On the few occasions when I'm in somebody's house and the set is on, I'm forcefully reminded of just how little I miss it.

All these shows, good and bad, end up on DVD eventually. We rent the good stuff from Netflix and ignore the rest.

Many are crap, some are excellent. But what is the point of complaining that The Sopranos is (are?) not as good as The Godfather? With that argument you can ruin any art or entertainment, like those old geezers who maintain that all Rock after 1966 or 1972 is just useless.

You might as well say "what is the point of complaining about anything?" If people ceased to complain, a great silence would fall across the land. That might be a good thing -- more room for MY voice.

PS: the Godfather films. Don't really get the adulation. I don't like criminals, so I don't like movies with criminal protagonists, generally.

Beg your understanding, I hardly know anybody who watches series like Rome or Deadwood on this side of the Atlantic, so I cannot get annoyed by too much adulation. I never watched a lot of Tv, but my sense is that there are some recent shows that represent the best television I´ve ever seen.

(Now that 80 percent of everything I once felt was timelessly great has fallen by the wayside, I try to maintain my enthusiasm for the few things that are left. At least until the European Union decides to protect the homegrown entertainment industry with import quotas and we here in the provinces are cut off from our fix of cultural imperialism.)

The shows mentioned are full of criminals, now that I think of it. I don´t like criminal protagonists, either, generally. The identification with bad guys and thugs in movies is a sign of youthful immaturity (probably more common in males). 20 years ago, I thought Travis Bickle was kind of cool. Really. But I´m ok with ambiguous or bad characters as long as the filmmakers understand who they are and it is not a cynical exercise in sadism. Which is why I enjoyed The Sopranos, but hated Kill Bill, to give one example.