Thanks again for the great response to yesterdays QOD and please keep your suggestions for future QOD's coming in the comments or you can email me here.Today's question of the day was suggested by Darq and was originally 2 questions but I decided to combine them into 1.
Today's question is "Which genres do you think are OVER and UNDER represented on TV?"
My take on this is that by far the most over done genre is that of the Crime/Cop/Law shows, this includes the 3 CSI, the Law and Orders, Bones, 2 NCIS, Criminal Minds etc Whilst I enjoy some of the these shows I think most of us can admit that this is probably the most over used genre currently. Or am I wrong?
As for Underused, being a huge Horror fan, I really can't think of a true Horror show on TV recently.
What do you think? Do you agree with my most overused Genre, do you have one yourself? and what Genre would you like to see more of.
Sound off in the comments.
You can see previous Questions of the Day here
If you have an idea for "Question of the Day" please leave it in the comments or email me @ thespoilergirl@gmail.com
Note: QOD will not be done on the weekends as I'm normally busy but it will continue on Monday with a new question.
Hm I'd love to see more Mystery and absolutely can't stand all these crime shows.
ReplyDeletepolice procedural/ Law procedural, way too many to count. I like the Criminal minds type that has a who done it feel, and I think one CSI is quite enough.
ReplyDeleteI wish there were more Sci fi type shows on, Time travel is king in my book.
Reality shows - Waaaay overused. Enough!
ReplyDeleteOver Represented defiantly the Law/Court/Police/Crime stuff. New shows of that Genre pop up every darn year and I don't understand how they haven't fizzled out yet.
ReplyDeleteI think Scifi/Fantasy is such an under represented Genre. V the Event and SGU are all well and good but I miss show's like Firefly and Farscape even SGA. Shows that where set in a different Galaxy that really pushed the Sci-Fi experience.
under represented on TV: women working in positions of power, women working in men jobs (like Paget Brewster's Emily Prentiss on Criminal Minds, who is about to die, because the network in "contention", wants to save money and is firing women). Working and powerfull women who manage to have a career and a family and be succeded in both.
ReplyDeleteTV should have more shows with strong women in the leading role. Like "The Good Wife" even "Bones", both different women but very good in their jobs, one has as family the other doesn't. This type of women are undervalued.
TV movies. Wonderful novels abound and some have been adapted to the big screen, forcing great stories to be condensed into 2 hours. So I'd like to see more seriialized TV movies. That would allow 3 to 6 hours to tell the story. I just saw Stephen King's The Stand, with Gary Sinese, for example. And remember Roots?
ReplyDeleteI agree that crime shows are over done but there are some good ones out there such as Castle, but I'm a fan of medical dramas and I feel that there aren't enough good quality ones out there.
ReplyDeletei miss historical stuff, only things we had are hornblower, sharpe, (robin hood)
ReplyDeleteif anyone knows some more i'd appreciate you posting them
Over represented: Anything to do with Vampires and Reality TV and Glee. I agree with the L&O CSI thing etc. However, they aren't bad shows, some aren't brilliant. However, as opposed to Reality TV they are fantastic.
ReplyDeleteUnder represented? Good comedy.. In recent years there has been a few belters, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother and now Raising Hope but there seems to be a lot of fails as well. There used to be more good comedy shows; Friends, Frasier, Just Shoot Me, Scrubs etc..
Forget to add my votes for overrepresented. Crime shows, particularly CSI and SVU. Voyeuristic reality type shows i.e. real housewives. Game shows in general, although Don't Forget the Lyrics is kinda fun.
ReplyDeleteReality shows are way overdone. I don't think there are enough black comedies on tv.
ReplyDeleteoh yeah, i forgot pride and prejudice
ReplyDeleteand also there are crusoe (sucked) and jane eyre (sucked) but that's it and if you look at schedules these days there's cop shows, reality shows, vampire stuff, a bit of scyfy, comedies that are after a cheap laugh, and not well thought out action series...
nothing on these days worth watching
Way too many crime shows.
ReplyDeleteSick to death of reality.
ReplyDeleteUnder: Sports related shows such as Friday Night Lights and in a way how One Tree Hill started that show the pressure on young aspiring athletes. Comedies revolving around younger people.
ReplyDeleteOver: Cop shows and high school shows revolving around romances (Hellcats, OTH, GG, Glee etc). Comedies involving a group of 20 something's in NY. (not that I'm complaining as I love this format, just think that it is done a lot)
Way too many crime shows. Having said that, I love NCIS, and NCISLA. I'm enjoying Castle too - one of the things I love about it (and Supernatural too) is the great mix of humor and drama. (Never thought I'd be talking about Castle and SPN in the same sentence) :P
ReplyDeleteI watch tv primarily for entertainment not intellectual stimulation so I want to be able to just sit back and enjoy.
A couple of others have mentioned historical stuff (not war related eg the Pacific - sorry, but not entertainment IMO) and serialised TV movies.
Way too many procedural cop shows- not enough GOOD family dramas- too many crap reality series
ReplyDeleteTV NEEDS:
ReplyDelete1. More quality science fiction. There is SO much out there that could be adapted.
2. Mysteries like those such as those that have been produced of A. Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Back in the early '70's NBC had a show called The Snoop Sisters. Sort of Miss Marplish. The series aired on a monthly rotation (referred to as a "wheel") as part of the NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie, trading timeslots with Banacek, Tenafly, and Faraday and Company. This sort of concept could offer variety but would still keep that time slot 'anchored' so advertisers and sponsors would be happy.
3. Historically set series. Just not war. There is too much violence as it is.
4. Quality family rated programming.
GET RID:
1. Get RID of reality shows except on those networks that are dedicated to them.
2. Get RID of most of the 'clones' of the crime/cop/law shows. L & O: SVU is a notable exception because of the female lead being a positive role model and also because the actors(as well as the show) speak out candidly and publicly against child abuse and domestic violence. Mariska Hargitay works on a national level against these types of violence.
3. Any series of any genre that just sits and spins it's wheels as far as plot development goes.
LOVE Raising Hope! Cloris Leachman is a hoot.
ReplyDeleteThough it's a somewhat different class from what you mention, you might like some of the historical docudramas on History Channel.
ReplyDeleteI want more mystery and them not get canceled!! I loved Eastwick and Happy Town and Persons Unknown but they got canceled!! I love Desperate Housewives but I would like them to focous a little more on the mystery!!
ReplyDeleteI am also sick of cop/law/crime dramas. Though I do love The Whole Truth and Eli Stone but they both got canceled. I would be fine with some but a limited number. It seems like they are on every single night!!
I'm all for more Mysteries and Sci-Fi.
ReplyDeleteToo many cop shows and police procedurals. But they are safe for the networks...
Although I like most crime shows, it's true that there are a lot of them... not bad for me though!! ;D ( I love Castle, CSI LV, Bones, Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, White Collar)
ReplyDeleteAnd now that Ghost Whisperer and Medium were cancelled... I would like a TV show like them... :S
over used = crime/mystery/police procedural ..
ReplyDeletethose in between like "The Good Wife" (law) "Warehouse 13" (sci-fi) "Lost Girl" (sci-fi) are the fun kind of procedural .. & it's never too much of them ..
Under represented = SCI-FI .. hands down!
I would love to see more miniseries. Something plotted out completely before they shoot one scene.
ReplyDeleteWe can start with turning "Under the Dome" into one. (Although, I think they already are.)
Over represented are reality and cop clones shows, some are good like CSI but theres too many, we need more long arc mystery sci-fi shows like LOST, Something that gets peoples imagination going that you have to THINK to understand.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm behind this one 100%. One of the best things about TV is that it can do long-form story-telling in a way that movies can't (or can't do as well). There are a lot of fantastic stories out there that would really benefit from having about 10-15 hours to be told, but aren't extensive enough to warrant a traditional, multiple-season television show.
ReplyDeleteAs you wish!
ReplyDeleteThe Cape premieres January 9th, 2011.
Under represented: Fantasy Tv shows like Brian Fuller's Pushing Daises and Wonderfalls. Right now shows on vampires are the only fantasy series out there. While I loved Buffy and Angel, got hooked on True Blood and find Vampire Diaries mildly entertaining, I would like some variety.
ReplyDeletei'm up for mystery, sci-fi and horror. i think we need more of that. not that anything could ever compare to lost, that was just awesome
ReplyDeletesupernatural used to be a horror in its first seasons, not so much now but i still love it.
i'm just sick of all those shows that are just like every other show. i especially hate comedies with laugh tracks, there are so many and they're really annoying!
Doubt that will last. Bet the ratings will kill it, even if it is good.
ReplyDeleteover: cop shows, law shows, doctor shows, crime shows.
ReplyDeleteunder: good sci- fi shows, funny new comedies.
Actually I tend to think there are too many women on TV in the jobs men almost alwys have. There are atleast 5 black female police captains on TV in the last few years, a couple female SWAT team mebers, more than handful of lead detectives under 30 and looking like models. All those jobs almost always are men in real life and ovecompensated for on TV to ADD more females on TV. However, many of the aforementioned roles are lesser characters on the shows so they maybe do not stand out. But we do get some strong femal LEADS coming this midseason!! Harry's Law has Kathy Bates as a female ATTorney(done by David E Kelley), Body of Evidence has Dana Delaney as a Medical examiner/ crime solving type, The Chicago Code has Jennifer Beals as a co-lead, and Fairly Legal wth Sarah Shahi s about a younger woman just out of law school trying to start her career. So atleast 3 new hopes on that front!
ReplyDeleteI thin Prentiss is the one in less Criminal Minds future episodebecause she is the most expendable character on the series personally, after JJ who is already gone. I am not sure its a woman needing to be cut as much as a money issue so they are cutting loose a lesser character.
I also think that there could/sould be more shows with women failing at both home and job like Saving Grace (now cancelled) or Weeds, or simply dealing with problems every family has to deal with like divorce or cancer as in the Big C. All female leads but all on cable.
Way to many precint cop shows. and way to many law shows or me. I would not mind if there was a showthat centered on one cop and dealt with hi or her life on the job in a precint, but the ensemble cop cast show is played out to me. I think there needs to be more entertaining or thought provokign shows about real people dealing with real problems. Not every one is a crime solver, or fights legal battles, has super powers etc. I know most people seem to need a "hook", something exxciting to grab them and keep them entertained, but I find it nice to have strong characters and strong writing for real people. It is sorely missed on TV in my mind!
ReplyDeleteOn a side note. I think the reasons for too few shows of the scifi genre are pretty simple. Some people will not even tune into a scifi show and have a preconceived dislike, and they are too expensive to make due to special FX and set design etc. The UK gets away with it by doing things on a budget and kaming them campy, but here that rarely works. I am not sure why....
I would love to see more mini-series on American TV! There have been great mini-series in the UK and on cable, but it is sorely lacking on major netowrks here!!
ReplyDeleteThere was a UK mystery show based on a 15th century monk called Cadfael that was kind of fun. I loved Deadwood and Carnivale. Set in 1880s and 1920s respectively. The Lonesome Dove movies and miniseries were ok for the most part with the original mini-series standing out as one of the best ever on TV. Also I love Boardwalk Embpir... another 1920's series. Seems like since America is only a few hundred years old we don't make shows about anything pre1700s really. OH I reccommend the HBO mini-series John Adams about the man and the revolution. VERY good.
ReplyDeleteI love sitcoms an dagree there anot as many... ever channel used to have a night of comedy or an hour block of two sitcoms a few times a week. Now its one night of comedy per network almost. We have gotten some good comdies in the last 2 years... to me atleast. I love Cougar Town and Modern Family from last year. This year we got 4 that i roarat each week. Mike & Molly, Better With You, S#!t MY Dad Says and The Big C. I know many commentors and reviewers on here seem to HATE Better With You and Shit MY Dad Says, but I l augh consistantly from both shows... as do the friends i suggested to give then a try that passed based on word of mouth or reveiws. One thing is certain though, there arenot any comedy juggernauts like Friends, Cheers, Frazier etc. 30Rock is the closest and it pales greatly... and personally I cannot stand it due to Tracy Morgan who annoys me to the point of changing the channel anytime he is on. Many like The Office too I guess, but that is another I never got into because I watched the far superior and original UK vrsion first.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteI saw the promo a couple of weeks ago. It looks promising :)
If I can't say Reality...I'll vote Procedurals and Nighttime Soaps as overused. Sci-Fi/Horror as underused
ReplyDeletei agree that crime shows really are WAY over-represented, and agreeing with jillyanne here, i really do love NCIS and NCIS:LA. i guess its easy money and if done well can be a pretty exciting and action packed 42 minutes of television.
ReplyDeletehorror is definitely under-represented, but i'm not a huge fan, so i guess i don't have too many complaints there. yeah, i'll admit, i'm just a big cowardly chicken. some of it is alright, like the little bits of horror in earlier episodes of SPN, but excessive amounts of goriness freaks me out.
i'd love to see more thriller, suspense, mystery ans sci-fi genre shows, as already mentioned, but what i'd really want more of is fantasy. we so rarely see that on television, the only thing i can really think of at the moment is Merlin. I guess i can understand the risk of doing fantasy. Its usually so expensive, requiring a MASSIVE budget and there's no guarantee it'll pay off.
We had Legend of the Seeker until this year too, but not nearly enough I agree! Atleast Game of Thrones looks AWESOME! I may have to get HBO again.... There are so many good fantasy adventure series that would make for good TV, but as stated the budget gets blown so fast that they rarely pay off long term. How many F/A series have lasted until they wanted to end.... maybe Hercules and Xena and that was a long time ago!
ReplyDeleteI'd have to agree a little there. There's sometimes so much push for women to be more "out there" and represented that they are sometimes just over-represented and don't really reflect reality. But i have to also comment with, when does television REALLY reflect reality?
ReplyDeleteThese days, television has pretty much embraced the role of the femme fatale especially, and not just on cable networks. Think NCIS, NCIS:LA, Nikita, Chuck, Grey's Anatomy and even Glee, there are pretty successful women, although the role of the femme fatale is still probably most popular if we go with the mentality that "women want to see some kickass, powerful women and men want to see some hot, sexy badass girl".
The next under-represented fight I see rising is race and sexuality. Just some speculation, but I've seen some vicious comments about what is the "right" representation of gay characters on a show, especially surrounding Glee. Some say its already too much because homosexuals are still a minority, and others say there need to be more and varied representations so the public have a real understanding of the gay community.
Very true. And it's hard for a show to have one gay character and represent a culture that has so many pesonalities. Sure Kurt is one specific persona that is definately in gay culture, but he cannot represent all the other people that are gay. With so few charcters to latch onto there is always going to be a lot of drama and emotion over this character is too femme, too butch, too swishy, too drama queen, too this or too that. Just like I always love seeing a series charcter on crutches or in wheel chair that does not get called out for being in crutches or in a wheel chair, I would find it nice to see a gay or lesbian charcter who is just part of a series without only having face time and plotlines when it is about them being gay/les. I seriously almost stand and applaud when I see a character in a chair just do their job or say their lines without being adreesed as handicapped or special needs or physically challenged... just a co-worker or lover or mentor etc. Too many series make it a point to announce a chracter is gay and have stories about how gay they are (and that is important for younger characters coming out maybe), but people are about more than their sexuality or gendre. IT is past due that "minorities" of all kinds are just seen as fully developed parts of a show and not token characters to have a stereotypical plotline or reach a specific narrow demographic.
ReplyDeleteThere isn't that much gay representation on TV, but I'd say the closest I've seen to treating a gay character as just the same as everyone else is in Grey's Anatomy. When Callie first came out about being lesbian, there was a bit of "omg, she's not into men after all???" but as the show progressed, she's basically the same as all the other characters and couples in the show.
ReplyDeleteI guess minorities being treated differently is really nothing new. Look at society, we may frown upon discrimination, but they do get special attention, some good, some not so good. In danger of getting too philosophical here, but an analogy for our stereotyping: not all people dressed like gangsters with tattoos everywhere mean trouble, but people generally avoid them anyway, just in case it does mean trouble.
Also, bringing this back to TV, Glee is somewhat trying to balance out the Kurt with Blaine and well, i have no idea what Karofsky really represents.. butch gay rejecting his sexuality? experimental? confused? tbh, although tv does shed some light on minority communities such as gays i really don't think it can ever completely represent it. Its not like television has a great representation of women for example. Or high school, i'm pretty sure my high school wasn't so segregated as television seems to think.
Oh, hey, i forgot about Legend of the Seeker, but i never watched it. Maybe now that you've mentioned it, I'll check it out.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm... Riese you say. Good luck to getting picked up i guess, low budget's pretty hard to come by. Regardless, i do all my television viewing online anyway, ONE DAY AMERICAN TV WILL BE AVAILABLE IN AUSTRALIA. Yeah, sadly, our television follows so slowly that if i watched everything on television, i miss the awesome discussions on forums like these after the episodes. Such is the sacrifice of a tv addict.
I agree about Sci fi shows, but I wish there were more original and better quality ones too. Time travel kicks ass. You can never have too many frozen donkey wheels.
ReplyDelete"put your shirt on maw maw!"
ReplyDeleteOVER represented: slutty doctors, crime/cop, singing/dancing/talent/cooking reality garbage.
ReplyDeleteMost in Need of improvement: Sci Fi/fantasy/horror/superhero. Fringe and Walking Dead are great but the rest seem mediocre at best. Shows like the Event, Smallville, Flashforward, and V could be so much better than they are.
UNDER represented: Western, War, music and sports themed shows
Maybe there could be some compromises...
CSI: In Space. Time Traveling With the Stars. America's Next Top Zombie. Criminal Mind-readers. Lost Island 5-0. Shit My Clone Says. How I Met Your Vampire....ok I gotta stop.
Idea for QOD: Would shows based on video games be good?
ReplyDeleteMore horror or science fiction for me. The cop thing is way overused, for example CSI, its the same thing repeated every episode in all the three shows.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Exactly.
ReplyDeletei know some of the shows you mention, but thanks!
ReplyDeleteI wish there were more good QUALITY sci-fi, drama, and comedy shows and much LESS reality tv. I like crime dramas. So while yes there are a lot of them, I really do enjoy a majority of the crime drama shows on tv.
ReplyDeleteFor OVER represented, it is not even a question - REALITY, all the way.
ReplyDeleteUnder? Probably scifi or mystery.
I know most of you won't agree with me an I am not expecting you to, but I actually only watch, CSI Miami, NCIS, NCIS LA, Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, Chase, CSI NY/LV (on occassion), The Good Wife, Rookie Blue, Dark Blue, Blue Bloods, The Glades, House, Glee, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, TOP Chef, and the TV Food Network. I can't stand all the ronchy comedies, reality shows, don't like Sci-fi or Horror of any kind, can't stand Soaps, talk shows, etc. So, for those of us with similar tastes, the only decent thing on to watch is crime drama, which obviously I watch a lot of. The rest of you can watch all the other stuff. I can never get enough crime drama and there is a very good variety in all the cop/forensic shows for me to never lose interest. I wish they would clean up the language and subject matter shown on tv. That's just my take.
ReplyDeleteLast week I watched the Entire Back To the Future trilogy on,...I think it was TBS or AMC. Man I was in 80's childhood nostalgia heaven.
ReplyDeleteAnd on your comment, I agree. Too many mini-series, and/or TV movies the likes of of those SyFy, Network movies make the genre seem "cheesy" to main-stream networks. I wish it weren't so, but don't get me wrong, I do love me some EUReKA, and Warehouse 13.
Overused: cop/criminal, lawyer/courtroom, medical/doctor, talent and reality shows
ReplyDeleteUnderused: horror, sci-fi, fantasy, period dramas, mystery
The Walking Dead on AMC is a current horror TV show and it's pretty good.
I agree with you about the crime procedurals... I do love NCIS, NCISLA and Criminal Minds although I believe they are completely different, as is Blue Bloods.. I gave up on CSI a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteI'll add to the overdone stack: elimination game shows, including talent contests; judge shows ("Judge Judy," etc.), talk shows.
ReplyDeleteunderrepresented: westerns, anthologies ("Twilight Zone" type shows), musical/comedy variety shows. And most importantly: shows that make people think.
Cop Procedural shows are the most represented shows IMO
ReplyDeletethat's funny, I watched that too.
ReplyDelete"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour you're going to see some serious shit."
Yeah it just started showing in the UK and I'm loving it. I kinda miss having a number of epic comedies. In saying that, I have just discovered How I Met Your Mother (slow on the uptake I know but is it just me or has it got wayyy bigger this year? If so, anyone know why?) Anyway, I managed to get completely caught up on it in 8 days. That's the kind of show that's under represented nowadays, ones where you can get into it 6 seasons in and become completely hooked you must go back and watch it from the beginning. The only other shows I've been able to do that for are Bones and House.
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly in the UK I don't believe we get some of the new comedies you suggested above. I agree with what you said about 30 Rock. However, I found I could watch the first 2 Seasons and then kinda got bored with it, like I don't know, maybe I missed something but I felt there wasn't a whole lot of character development behind the comedy. If you take Friends or Frasier or even the Office there was still an ongoing story behind the scenes effectively. I'm not saying it was addressed every episode in those shows but with 30 Rock I felt like it was funny but not really going anywhere. Which is why I prefer Modern Family and especially HIMYM and Cougar Town; they do have stories etc going on throughout episodes..
ReplyDeleteI agree. I watch a lot of the crime type shows; L&O, L&O: SVU, L&O: CI, Bones, The Mentalist and CSI:NY. However, even as a fan I feel like there is a lot of them, probably too many. If you compare the CSI Franchise with the L&O Franchise; to me, L&O does have spin offs but they take a different format. The mothership focussed more on the Law side of things, CI relies heavily on the Order side and SVU is somewhere in the middle, and you get a bit more personal with the characters as well I feel. On the other hand, you get the CSIs which yeah you get certain type of crimes for whichever city/state it's set in. However, to me, primarily it boils down to the "science" the CSI part of the show and I feel that's what makes them all the same..
ReplyDeleteSocial and political satire, incorporated into a well-scripted comic format! Years ago, I loved M*A*S*H* and "All in the Family" because they took aim at pretty much everybody at some point, yet also covered many topical issues. They provided laughs, but dealt with serious themes as well.
ReplyDeleteAs an educator, I miss the solid teacher/student shows with a focus on the teaching staff. "Boston Public" was a quality series on all counts. There's been nothing even close to it since.
I seriously miss "The Practice" and "Boston Legal". They had such memorable characters. Many crime and/or legal shows currently airing seem interchangeable. I do like "Blue Bloods" because it tends to focus on one main situation per episode and it gives us lots of time to get to know the characters. I like "Criminal Minds" for much the same reason although it goes over the top some weeks with the graphic violence (which is true for most CSIs and other crime shows as well).
There are also limited roles for older women - not 50-somethings but actual senior citizens who aren't portrayed either as airheads or as conniving old ladies from your worst nightmare.
And someone mentioned quality sci-fi or futuristic drama. "Jericho" offered the potential to become a long-running show but it's all about the ratings. This is a genre that many would love to see more widely represented.
i agreed with you even thou i love all those crimes show but
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see more Mystery and maybe ghost story show ...well crime show is great i love it but its time for new kind genre show (don't u thing so )