Drama Over International Television! Breaking News! Most Americans: Still Dumb
So recently I wrote an article on how I felt that the British show IT Crowd is very good and does not need an American remake. If you click right there on that little blue link, you can read it, too, if your heart so desires. Basically it just became a comment festival to say that because I don’t think that a lot of people are “intelligent” (I will use this term loosely) enough to really enjoy this type of humor that I am a bad American. I am not saying that you have to be intelligent to understand humor. You can be dumb as a rock and still think things are funny. And different things are funny to different people. For example, my friends like to watch people take the Cinnamon Challenge all night. They think this is the funniest thing since the icanhascheezburger.com. I do not. I don’t really think it’s funny at all. And these people are pretty dumb. And you know, of course, that dumb people are funny. I mean, that is why Jackass got to make two movies that a lot of people went out to see and then bought, along with lots of TV shows and DVDs and merchandise.
But you know what? I do think intelligence has a lot to do with the type of humor you find funny. You have to be smarter to get certain subtle references to pop culture or semi-inside jokes taken from any culture: pop, web, society, ect. Because you can only get so far with fart jokes. Really. I am pretty sure that the basic fart jokes do wear down over time. Don’t get me wrong, a fart joke here and there is funny. Just not all the time. That is why intelligence in humor is what makes a certain movie or TV show or book or comedian or whatever more funny and memorable then another. Do you agree with me? I actually don’t care if you do or not. I mean, I am writing this article which means that it obviously bothers me a little that I had to go out of my way to explain this to some people, but that I wanted to make sure it was understood what I mean. So, maybe I do care. But just a little.
And, I am not saying I am really smart or that you are really dumb (if you felt that the title of my article on the IT Crowd was derogatory towards you, then maybe it was? If not, then hey, I’m not talking about you.). All I am saying is that there are a lot of dumb people out there who never get tired of fart and poop jokes, getting to see people kick other people in the nuts or fall off of buildings. But for the rest of us who want that kind of humor mixed in with more intelligent and snappy humor I feel we get punished with main stream entertainment. And I am very thankful when something funny comes out on TV or at the movies. But it’s like a rare mythological beast. You will see it and love it and want to own it but no one will believe you that it was there (or in this case worth watching). Americans are all jaded and bored. I am tired of the same old recycled TV being reprocessed and re-aired. So, sorry if I offended you people who like to watch the same show 20 different times (I am talking about anything here but you can insert The Real World if you want a specific example). Over a hundred different channels for people to watch and still nothing on TV worth watching.
Oh, and one last thing, it’s not just Americans. Every country has their fair share of dumb people. I’m sorry to just single out the good ole USofA. I know, it makes me anti-American. So does everything else despite but that is an article for another time.
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I’m not sure where you’re coming from here. Your title says Americans are dumb, but then you say you think it’s NOT just Americans who are dumb, everyone is dumb, and that makes you anti-American?
In regard to television - there’s a lot of good stuff out there, you just have to look beyond prime time (still family time in the US) and beyond MTV. Actually, “The Real World” was a good show. It started the whole reality TV thing. I don’t know what it’s like now, but that’s because I grew out of being amused by what crabby 20-somethings are yelling at eachother about. It was quite amusing BEFORE I was a 20-something, though!
The best comedy British TV shows that are on or were recently on, in my opinion, are:
The Office
Extras
QI
The IT Crowd
Canadian Shows:
Trailer Park Boys
Corner Gas
Little Mosque on the Prairie
American Shows:
Weeds
Everybody Hates Chris
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
30 Rock
The Office
The Simpsons (losing ground)
The Daily Show
My Name is Earl
There are a LOT of good American shows and a LOT of bad British shows. I have watched a ton of UK television and I would have to say that “The IT Crowd” is not one of their best. It’s above “Coupling” and below “The Vicar of Dibley.”
And who’s to say that America will ruin “The IT Crowd”? At first, I wasn’t willing to give “The Office (US)” a nod, until I watched it. Funny stuff! Unfortunately, it is NOW being ruined by perhaps going on too long. David Brent and Michael Scott are more believable in small doses. Gervaise was smart to can Brent after a couple seasons. America, being the money machine it is, is pushing Michael Scott to his limit. So, I think if America ruins “The IT Crowd” at all, it’ll be in that aspect - keeping it around too long that it gets stale.
There are funny subtleties in American TV and funny subtleties in British TV. I wouldn’t say either is better than the other just based on location - there are definitely gems and klunkers in both.
October 16th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Oh and by the way - “Big Brother (UK)” is one of the top-rated shows in the UK…so they like the same kind of mindless reality TV stuff we do.
October 16th, 2007 at 1:56 pm