What was it about that show that appealed to you? Who was your favorite character and why? If you could have a conversation with that character, what would you talk about and why? What have you learned from that character? Have you ever found yourself copying any of that character's behaviors or mannerisms, or found yourself saying anything that you've seen or heard that character say? Explain.
Brett Lee
ReplyDeleteOf all my media habits, I think I am the most passionate about my favorite TV shows. Since I was in high school, my favorite TV show has been Arrested Development. It’s an obscure TV show from the early to mid 2000’s that ran on Fox for 3 seasons that developed a huge cult following. I love this show, and have re-watched the series since it’s been cancelled roughly 4 or 5 times.
I love the show because of the unique character interaction. It’s one of those shows where you love every character and how they interact with each other. The dialogue is extremely dry and witty, and the episodes piece together and play off of each other. If I had to choose, I think that my favorite character is the oldest son Gob Bluth. Gob is pathetic. He is an absolute loser without a job or any type of responsibility who aspires to be a famous magician. He is always seeking validation while admitting that he doesn’t want to work for anything of worth. If I ever had the chance to meet Gob Bluth, I think I would end up just asking him his opinion on everything from business strategy, to his relationship with his family, because everything he says is ridiculous and funny. His concept of reality is extremely self-centered and funny.
The show goes to extremes to show how dysfunctional and backwards the family collectively is and the characters individually really are. I feel that I’ve learned a lot about what not to do in certain situations from the behavior of Gob. He is always looking to take advantage of every situation he possibly can because he is so selfish.
The reason why I chose Gob as my favorite character is because I realized after reading the prompt that I mimic him the most. He has a really distinct way of speaking, and always reverts back to several popular catch phrases. When I’m with others that are familiar with the show, I always quote Gob, or recreate his “chicken-dance” or magic routine. Even though I have absolutely no respect for Gob’s character on screen, I still spend so much time mimicking him, because I find it so funny.
Sara Anderson--
ReplyDeleteMy favorite TV show of all time is Gilmore Girls. I enjoyed watching this show for years because I found it very witty. I loved how smart and funny the main characters were. The TV show is also very easy to relate to. It’s about a teenager and her mother and their experiences with school, work, friends and romance. The show appealed to me mostly because I wanted to be as witty and charming as the main characters Lorelai and Rory. I have always enjoyed good humor and humor that makes me think. I think the TV show also appealed to me because I wondered what life would be like if I had a mother who was closer to my age.
Lorelai and Rory were smart but also very cute. They were beautiful but did not have perfect lives. Things went wrong. They weren’t perfect and polished all the time. Occasionally they wore sweatpants and overslept. They made mistakes.
My favorite character was Lorelai because she did things her way. Although she had made mistakes, like having her daughter out of wedlock as a teenager, she overcame that time in her life and became a dedicated mother. She was from a wealthy family but lived in a small town with more humble, down-to-earth people. She did conform to her parent’s dreams for her. She lived her own dreams. She lived life how she felt it should be lived. I love her spunk. If I could have a conversation with her, I would talk to Lorelai about how she overcame her trials. I would ask her about her favorite books and movies because I wish I could soak up some of her knowledge and witt. I don’t recall ever saying anything that Lorelai has said. However, I don’t doubt that I have picked up on the Gilmore Girl language. A few years ago I would watch the show frequently but I have not watched any of the old episodes for many months.
My favorite television show is Gilmore Girls. This show is about the life of a mother and daughter living in a small town where everyone knows everyone. Lorelai, the mom, and Rory, the daughter, are each other’s best friends. The two of them are hilarious together. They are very witty, always making references to their favorite movies, music, etc. Half the time I don’t even pick up on the extent of their references. This show is always entertaining to watch. The two of them are beautiful, smart, and driven- yet in very different ways. It is also interesting because Rory, the daughter, comes off as much more responsible than Lorelai, the mother, which only adds interest to the episodes.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite character is Lorelai. Like I said earlier, she is beautiful, smart, and driven. She finds a good balance in her life between work and play. She loves spending time with her daughter, and does everything she can to make Rory’s life as good as possible. She finds a balance between being responsible, and being spontaneous as to not waste life away. She is smooth with the men, but still has her own relationship problems. She knows when she needs to include her parents, but is still very much independent. If I were to have a conversation with her, I would ask her how she came to find the almost perfect balance with each aspect of her life.
I have learned that it is good, and in many cases much better, to be your own independent person. It is important to always be yourself, and to not worry too much about what others think of you. These lessons are especially good to remember as a woman. I cannot recall any time that I have used their same mannerisms, but many times my mom and I will quote various episodes and relate back to them. Even though this show and the characters are relatable, I haven’t found myself behaving like them because their lives are so different than mine.
Since I grew up in Tokyo, my favorite TV shows selections are totally different compared to American children. My favorite TV show was definitely Sailor Moon. My favorite characters were Sailor Moon and Venus. I had a long hair growing up, so I felt like I was like them. After school, we always played pretend Sailor Moon. I always got to be Sailor Moon because I had the longest hair. I thought that was the coolest thing that I can be a main character! As a result, that caused me not to cut my hair for a long time, so I can be a main character among my friends. I also liked Venus because she went to different countries to help other people. When I was little, I traveled to many different countries, so I thought I could fight evil in those places like Venus did. If I could have a conversation with them, I would ask them how I can be in Sailor Soldiers even though I don't have any super powers like them. I always wanted to fight evil to save the world. They definitely were my heroines growing up. We had a lot of boy fighting shows such as Dragon Ball Z and Power Ranger, but Sailor Moon was one of the only ones who had “girl soldiers.” They taught me how to be brave against enemies, have confidence in myself, be loyal to my friends, have relationships with others and overcome challenges. During recess or even in a normal conversation, we always talked like them, or I did Sailor Moon hairstyle couple of times to school. When my mom did a Sailor Moon hairstyle, I felt like the coolest girl in the kindergarden. Whenever we play, we used a jungle gym to fight against the evil. (For some reason, we thought it was cooler for soldiers to go up high to fight evil.) We make a setting from a previous show, then we pretend we have Sailor Soldiers' super powers and use them against enemies. It worked every time and we are able to kill them! Unfortunately, I don't quote Sailor Moon anymore, but that was the one of the long-term popular TV shows in Japan. If I remember right, I played Sailor Moon until 3rd grade.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I am a total T.V. junkie. I watch about five T.V. shows each week that I record on my DVR. I allow myself to watch my shows when I come home from school because I feel it is my moment throughout the day to just sit and relax. When I was in high school, my favorite T.V. show was One Tree Hill. It’s about a group of teenagers that are in high school in a small town called Tree Hill. They go through typical teenager issues of family, friends, and dating. The boys are on the high school basketball team and the girls are cheerleaders.
ReplyDeleteI loved this show when I was a teenager because the characters were going through the same things I was going through and they were involved in the same activities I was in. They did fun group dates, they lived to go to the basketball games, and they had the time of their life. It was a fun show for me to watch with me being in the same stage in my life as the characters were.
My favorite character from the show was Brooke Davis. She was the captain of the cheerleading team and she was dating one of the main basketball players named Lucas. She started her own clothing line and was very successful with that. I loved her because of her personality. She was very fun, bright, strong, and independent. She always knew exactly hat she wanted. She seemed to be the perfect best friend and girlfriend. I learned from her to believe in myself. She may have made some mistakes, but she always knew exactly who she was. She wasn’t afraid to fall in love and she did not care what other people thought of her. If I were to have a conversation with her I would just chat with her a see where the conversation went. I think her personality is so full of life that I would be curious to see what she would want to talk about. I do not remember doing or saying things that she did, but I always did admire her.
In real life I did meet one of the characters from this show, and it was such a cool experience for me. It really made me feel like this show was real. One Tree Hill ended just about a month ago, and I was so sad to see something that I had truly loved to be all over with.
I have to admit, I am a total "un"-TV junkie. I really don't watch TV and haven't done so in a consistent manner for any show in about 7+ years.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I was an avid fan of Wishbone when I was growing up. The show was about a dog named Wishbone and his owner Joe. Somehow the situation Joe was in would always relate to a story from a classic novel, and Wishbone would tell the story and become the main character of the story he told.
My favorite character was Joe's friend, Samantha, or “Sam” as they called her. I probably liked her mostly because she was the girl in the story, she was smart, and pretty--and at the same time she seemed so down to earth that I felt we could have been real friends.
If I was going to have a conversation with Sam, I would be really interested to know if she had a crush on Joe too, because it seemed like it to me. Besides that, I think I would just like to talk to her about her life. She seemed like such a real character that it almost felt like we were already friends. I don’t remember ever copying the specific mannerisms or things that Sam said, but I do remember being very similar to her in a couple of situations. One was when she was reading poetry in front of her class and she asked, “It doesn’t have to rhyme, right?” I remember thinking it was funny that she would do that even after the teacher told her it didn’t have to rhyme, and then I did the same thing in my own class when reading one of my own poems in front of the class. It was so weird to realize I did the same thing as her several years after watching that episode.
There was another time she was asked to watch the desk while the secretary went to get a picture for Sam. As Sam sat at the desk, there was a sudden influx of people calling and requesting material from the office. I remember her being very flustered and not knowing what to do. That really resonated with me because I was always nervous that I wouldn’t be qualified enough to be a secretary and that I wouldn’t have good enough multi-tasking skills to do it.
I still think about Sam when I get busy at my office doing my job as a secretary, especially when I am multitasking talking to multiple people on the phone and trying to help the walk-ins of the office. Even though I don't do some of her small tendencies, I do think about her when my life relates to hers all these years later.
My favorite TV show is Psych and my favorite character is Shawn Spencer because of the way he lives his life in such a carefree way. Shawn and his best friend Gus go around Santa Barbara investigating crimes all the while telling everyone that Shawn is the “Head Psychic Detective” of the police department. Gus and Shawn remind me of how in high school my best friend I would go around pretending that we were a lot smarter and more important than we actually were.
ReplyDeleteIf Shawn were real and I could have a conversation with I would probably just ask him to tell stories about his experiences as a psychic detective. He would be more of a friend than a mentor or hero. I don’t regularly repeat any of Shawn’s classic lines from the show. I do think that I watch it is not only for the entertainment or for laughs, but more because I like and aspire to Shawn’s carefree lifestyle. Deep down inside, I too want to open a psychic detective business and run around sunny California investigating crimes and making fun of police officers.
This isn’t related to Psych, but I think it’s relevant to add a note about the rise of reality TV shows. My wife loves watching Food Network, the home improvement channel, the Next Top Model and Storage Wars. While none of these shows have famous actors or fictional characters, they all show different ways to live life. We’ve tried many recipes that we’ve seen on Food Network and my wife is always redecorating the apartment like they do on the home improvement shows.
What we watch on TV does affect what we do and say.
A show that I can't stay away from is Friday Night Lights. I love watching anything football and that's what I thought I was getting when I started watching this series. Turns out the drama is a large added bonus to the football scenes. I have found that one of my standout favorite characters is Tim Riggins. He is the tall, attractive football star with a devil-may-care attitude. The negative yet also endearing side of Riggins is that he comes from a broken home and doesn't have a respect for rules or obedience. School is not a priority and neither is any type of responsibility.
ReplyDeleteIt would be far from the truth to say that Rig is my role model or anything like unto it. However I feel a sympathy towards him because I had a friend in high school who also came from a disadvantaged background but had shining talents. I always wanted to see him succeed and he is represented well in Riggin's character. Therefore I feel something different for him than admiration, perhaps something more maternal and care-giving.
I have found that I copy some of Tim's phrases because he is always trying to be positive and "live it up." Something that he always says is, "No regrets." Even if I don't always say this phrase out loud I do think it and sometimes repeat it. Whatever our attitude and goals I think we can all benefit from an attitude of living our life to it's fullest and obtaining the most out of our experiences. That is one of the traits in Riggin's character that I would emulate.
Spencer Cornett
ReplyDeleteMy wife has recently introduced me to one of her favorite shows on television. It is called New Girl and it stars Zoey Deschanel. This show has quickly become my newest TV obsession and my favorite character on the show is Nick Miller, played by Jake Johnson. I really like the show because the writing is incredibly clever. The show is just in its first season, but I feel like the characters are “real” in that I actually know people in real life that are just like the characters I am watching on the show.
My wife and I talked about our favorite characters one night and we both came to the conclusion that Nick is our favorite . My wife likes him because he is actually rather plain in appearance, and is solely likable because of his charisma and personality. He doesn’t rely on good looks like other popular tv characters. I like him because he reminds me of my friends from high school and a little bit of me. I obviously don’t agree with all of the life decisions of Nick, but something about his loudness and his sarcasm really strikes a chord with me.
If I could have a chat with Nick Miller I would probably want to get him drunk first. Some of his funniest moments in the show come when Nick has consumed a little too much alcohol. I would just ask him questions about his life, why he dropped out of law school and why he is so bad with women. More than anything I would probably just want to chat with him like I would any of my high school friends.. We would poke fun at each other, probably people watch and make snap judgements about complete strangers.
Nick has really not taught me anything. He is a rather lazy character who is a complete underachiever. He is obviously smart, but he works in a dead-end job, has horrible credit and lives in a loft with three roommates. Not exactly someone I would want to emulate and because of that I really only learned how much I want to see my education through to the end.
I don’t know if I could call it copying, but I see quite a few mannerisms that the character and I already shared before I even discovered the show. Nick is a very loud character and I come from a family where the loudest is the funniest, the smartest, the rightest etc. I do find myself quoting a lot of his more hilarious one-liners all the time. It is hard to really give any of the lines justice, but my wife and I are constantly laughing to each other about lines that we remember from time to time. The more I think about it, the more I realize just how often I find myself quoting lines from funny movies and shows and inserting them into actual conversations with people who know me and the source of the line. I may not be as funny and original as I thought :).
Chase Lucero
ReplyDeleteI haven’t really watched very much television since I returned home from my mission. But, one show that I really enjoyed before I left was called 30 Rock. This show was such a funny program and it was very entertaining. One character that I really enjoyed watching and listening to was Tracy Jordan. In this show he is a very goofy man who is kind of an airhead. He is the star of the show. In 30 Rock it’s like the behind scenes of running a real television program. Tracy’s character is the star and he knows it. He tries to run everything and he always has to have his own way. This is always entertaining because he can be a little dramatic at times and this plays out for some good drama.
What I really enjoy about Tracy are his voices. He puts on this really low voice and says stuff like ,”Lizzzzz Lemmmmon”. If you’ve seen the show that would make since but if not than I apologize because you are probably very lost. Nonetheless, I always loved that part. I remember for the longest time I would always say that phrase along with many others to my friends and we would all get a good laugh out of it because everyone knew what I was talking about.
If I could have a conversation with Tracty Jordan I probably would not talk about anything pertinent or relevant in any way. I feel I would just try and say things to get him to go off on a big tangent about something because that’s what he’s good at.
I’ve learned from Tracy Jordan that you just have to live life. He just goes with the flow and never lets anything get him down. That’s a great outlook to have in a life like ours that has so much drama.
Favorite TV show growing up? Easily Dragon Ball Z (DBZ for short). When I was a kid and my brother’s and I would watch this show we would definitely be sucked in to the awful animation and over the top action that would occur in the show. The greatest appeal was the whole triumph of good over evil that the characters would constantly be going through. The story really didn’t have much of a plot and the characters would constantly have to deal with the same problems of killing the bad guy to save family/city/world earth/universe/dead universe/earth again but it was really fun to watch with my brothers.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite character on DBZ was the anti-hero named Vegeta. Vegeta, one of the original bad guys from the series, ends up staying on Earth and has this constant power struggle with the main character Goku. With this chip on his shoulder and short man’s complex, Vegeta was always trying to one up the hero of the show. Wanting to get stronger and be better, he always was pushing himself. I liked this because he was constantly pushing himself and had natural competition that would let him do this. That is probably the greatest thing that I learned from Vegeta was that there is always someone out there that is better than you. You just have to push yourself through it and not complain or be a baby about it. Just do it.
If I could talk with Vegeta I really don’t know what I would ask him other than how to fly. The super heroes in in DBZ fly all across the earth in a matter of seconds and it was freaking awesome to watch them fly around and blow things up as a kid. As a kid I just loved being a kid and doing kid things like watch over the top dramatic and super testosterone driven children’s shows. It was fun and something that let my brother’s and I bond over another great memory.
When we were kids my brothers and I would be so excited about the show that we would pretend that we were the characters and would beat each other up and go jump on our trampoline like we were flying like the characters in the show. Each of us would play a character and it was be awesome.
A show that I enjoy immensely is 'Psych' on USA. The show is about a guy who poses as a psychic to help the police solve tough cases. My favorite character in the show is Gus. He is the partner of the main character, and Gus often finds himself in sticky situations because of his friend. I really like Gus for a lot of reasons. One of the big ones is that he is the voice of reason for Shawn, the main character, when they have to make big decisions. Another is that he is great at playing along with things Shawn does. One of the big ones is that Shawn gives Gus a different name every time he introduces him. One of his best names was 'MC Clap Your Hands'. On top of all of that Gus is extremely loyal to his friends. Shawn has done a lot of crazy things, and has gotten Gus into a lot of trouble. However, through it all Gus sticks by his side.
ReplyDeleteIf I could sit down with Gus I would talk to him about he and Shawn became friends. They can be very different from each other, but still when they're together they have a great jive. So I guess I would want to know how they even started hanging out. I would also want to talk to Gus about what he does in his free time. In the show we see him either with Shawn or at his real job, but never what he does when he's by himself.
What I've learned from Gus is how to let my pride go and just go with the flow in certain situations. Gus pretty much lets Shawn poke fun at him so that they can solve the case at hand. In life sometimes it's important to let yourself get roasted to help out at different times. I haven't really found myself copying Gus too much in my daily life. However, my wife and I have been prone to pull off some of his facial expressions and mad dance skills.
My new favorite show this season has been New Girl on Fox. I started watching it because Zooey Deschanel was starring as the main character and she usually picks entertaining roles. What also appealed to me was that she ends up living with three very different male roommates after a hard breakup. My favorite character on the show is Jess. She is incredibly quirky and says the most random and off the wall things. If I were ever to talk to Jess I'm not exactly sure what I would talk about but rather I would let the conversation go its own way. I'm pretty sure we would talk about the most random things and always be jumping to new subjects. I'm not consciously aware that I have learned anything from Jess because her life is in a different stage than mine but maybe when I get older, the things and situations she is in will apply more to me and I will use what I learned from watching the show. Thus far I have not found myself copying any of her mannerisms because she is more of a girly girl than I am and has plenty of different interests but every once in awhile I will say some of her random quotes that I love in weird situations where they make no sense to anyone but me. Maybe that is a small example of copying her mannerisms by saying weird things in random situations. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteChase Lucero
ReplyDeleteI was able to interview three different people, all a little bit different in their style and interests. I interviewed my father, who is an advertiser; my friend kyle, who is studying finance; and my brother who is a business man. All these people had similar answers more or less. They commented on the fact that they were all effected by the media (most of them took that to mean commercials, ads, movies… They all states that many times certain commercials incite them to desire to go buy that thing. My dad said that as an “ad man” he gets pulled into the ads of certain products and in trying to analyze what each advertisement did right and wrong, he usually gets sold into buying something.
Each person who was interviewed commented on the fact that they felt it depended on the product (whether or not they were more influenced then their friends). But they said that nonetheless they are probable equal to their friends in being sold into something. The only person that differed slightly was my father who said that he was probably a little more likely than most.
He felt that he was sold more often because he said that if they had done such an effective job they deserved to have his service.
I feel like a lot of people are a little more innocent or easy going and that’s why they get sold so easily. I feel like these people, through their innocence don’t really think it through they just kind of say ,”oh I would like that, or hmm that seems nice” and then they buy it. Another thing is just convenience. A lot of times when you pull up to the drive way and see something delicious that’s on sale (or a clothes item at a store) you think to yourself that you probably won’t see this opportunity anytime soon and this needs to be taken in order to have the advantage.
Less influence would be the exact same. If a product is not convenient, if you have to travel far or fill out a big list of things- people are less likely to want to buy it or use it.