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Also Monk, Royal Pains. What is fascinating is that all these shows were very popular but were kinda ignored between the stale network fare post 90s (Raymond, Two and a Half Men) on one hand, and premium mediocre HBO-grade “golden age” TV.
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When I look back at this period, it strikes me that this basic cable genre was the soul of pre-Weirding American culture before being basic/normie became impossible due to Weirding, culture wars.
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Obviously I really enjoy this stuff and have rewatched all of these shows a couple of times. They are post 9/11 and recession and have cellphones (transitioning to iPhones halfway through), so they’re modern in almost every way, except for that innocence that was lost after.
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Something liminal about this little chapter of mediocre but very satisfying television. The last attempt at universal appeal before TV turned into some mix of reboot hell, self-consciously quirky non-basic subcultural shows, and shows clearly targeting narrower demographics.
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The aughts were generally a zombie decade for network television module random bright spots like The Office. I think everybody agrees with that. The contest was basic vs premium cable. A bit like Android vs iOS. USA was Android, HBO was iOS.
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Makes me sad to think the start of this era is already over a decade ago. Somehow it seems like a forgotten era. I think because they were not very meme-worthy shows. It was basic entertaining storytelling, without gif-able shots or iconic lines. Now TV/movies aim for the meme.
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I think it’s this kind of TV that best explains why I’m generally team normie/basic/mediocre. There’s a lightness of being that I prefer to the neuroticism of supposedly “better” TV and the non-normies it appeals to. Tropey self-awareness without heavy handed meta/irony tone
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