Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
rubber cat
Jul 1, 2002
Now, don't get me wrong here. I've been one of the show's biggest and most loyal fans for years. I own the Truman: The College Years and Truman Bloopers! DVDs as well the companion guide (first edition, natch). Up in my attic, I have all but seven of the complete set of "World of Seahaven" collector's figurines, as well as all 16 Truman Show TV Guide covers. I'm a frequent contributor to the Truman Show Fanfiction newsgroup. My prize possession? My gold brass saxophone, autographed by Louis Coltrane himself at Trumania '98. Yes, I'm that obsessed. But as I watch The Show these days I can't help but feel that my favorite show is slowly but surely going down the tubes. At this pace, it won't be long until Truman jumps the shark (if he ever faces his fear of water, that is!).

TTS used to be the most innovative and fiendishly clever show on television. It was a real high-concept experiment in entertainment. Nowadays it's like a subpar Time Joint! rerun. TTS used to rise above such vapid formulaic sitcoms, but lately it's really been dumbing itself down to their level. The producers need to stop and ask themselves why they're even going after this idiot demographic. TTS isn't for everyone, and that's what makes it so good. Unlike 99% of the crap that comprises the television landscape, TTS is pure class. I realize that the show needs advertisers and viewers, but surely they could do it without sacrificing their principles or intelligence. I wouldn't be surprised if we soon see a laugh track added to the show so Joe Redstater knows when to laugh :rolleyes:.

Some people say "Hey, if you don't like it, don't watch it". A valid point. But, once a show gets labeled the show of the millennium by Time magazine, you just kind of expect more, you know? I remember a time when The Show didn't have to rely on stupid gimmicks like the Miss Seahaven beauty pageant right next to Truman's office they had during sweeps.

A lot of episodes these days are just subpar and unenthusiastic. I realize that the glory years set impossibly high standards. But, seriously, it's like they're not even trying. I don't give a rat's rear end about Truman's latest insurance report! Is that seriously supposed to be drama? That's compelling television? In its heyday, The Truman Show used to be the master at drama and suspense. Who could forget the time when Truman ran away with Sylvia? I for one was on the edge of my seat, thinking "holky gently caress!" the whole time. That's how you make compelling television. Now look what passes for drama: last month Meryl and Truman were arguing about mortgage payments while overbearing suspenseful music played. What the hell happened? If I wanted to see that, I'd turn off the TV and get to know my family again. And I haven't even mentioned all the formulaic, artificial drama they try to infuse into the show. The episode where the insurance company's infrastructure fails and the tech guys have to patch the "Phoenix shield" to make it work again? The writers just threw all reality out the window with that line. I'm exaggerating, but each passing day is another contender for "worst episode ever".

The character development has also really deteriorated over the past couple of years. I loved Meryl for her angel-like, unassuming schoolgirlish charm, but now she's become a helpless, nagging shrew. Ron and Don were funny when they were only minor characters, but ever since they got popular they've been putting them in every drat episode, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. For a while it seemed like they were going somewhere with Lawerence's character but I guess the character bus broke down on the way to development town and he reverted back to his usual, one-dimensional self. And let's not forget Marlon. Back in the glory days of Season 20, Marlon was an oaf, but he was a relatable, sympathetic, lovable oaf who used to have at least an iota of intelligence, not the self-aggrandizing retarded manchild he is now, with "edgy" third-rate putdowns coming out of his mouth at every opportunity. This isn't the Marlon we knew and loved. This is some unrepentant jerky rear end in a top hat Marlon bodysnatcher, a "Jerkass Marlon" if you will. It's like the writers feel the need to compete with EdTV and resort to its lowbrow hi-jinx.

And what's with the complete lack of any resolution to any of the story arcs? I thought that maybe by the end of last season they were going to answer at least some of the questions that have been building up. What happened to the rumor that the insurance company is being taken over by a rival corporation and relocating to Florida? Are they going to leave the island or what? We tune in, expecting answers, and what did they give us? Even more questions! drat it, you cockteasers, I want resolution! This isn't a soap opera like World of Our Differences! This is TTS, drat it!

Cristof has been showrunner for what seems like a billion years now. To his credit, he's brought us some great, unforgettable moments that transcended the medium of television and became art: the Burbanks' wedding, Truman's first kiss, and of course the classic story arc in which Seahaven gets a monorail. He's undoubtedly a visionary who has innovated television many times over and I would give my left kidney just to shake his hand. But over the years he's lost his touch. I know you can do better, Truman Show. You've gotten complacent with mediocrity. You need fresh blood to breathe new life back into the show.

Hope is not lost. I still see a glimmer of brilliance here and there. A pretty funny Truman one-liner that's up there with the best quotes occasionally finds its way into the show. Plotlines with potential do sometimes happen, but they're in short supply nowadays. The recent "Carnival" episode, although nowhere near classic status, was pretty darn good, and I recommend downloading it from iTunes if you get a chance (warning: the full 24 hour episode will definitely cost you a pretty penny!). I am cautiously optimistic that, with the right ingredients, the show can still generate classic material. But in order to do show, the producers are going to have to try and take risks, which unfortunately they seem fiercely devoted to avoiding.

Frankly, however, if it doesn't start getting better soon, I think they should just end the show before the quality sinks any lower.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

EngineerJoe
Aug 8, 2004
-=whore=-



Edit: The god drat product placements are driving me nuts, how many people are going to have loving hemroids on that show!

Clever :)
I'm still waiting for a TV network to actually attempt something like this.

Mugglefucker
Jan 4, 2006

by Fragmaster
I hope this is a cut and paste and not something you spent hours laboring to produce only to have very few people actually read it. :shobon:

happyhippy
Feb 21, 2005

Playing games, watching movies, owning goons. 'sup
Pillbug
His wife cant act for poo poo, its so obvious shes faking most of those orgasms. And shes a nurse, probably the most boring job ever in Seahaven as noone gets sick!
One of the latest rumours I read is that they are going to introduce the internet to Truman, heavily monitored of course, and....wait for it.....WE WILL BE ABLE TO TALK TO HIM! Man I cant wait, we should totally do a goon invasion.

Tom Tucker
Jul 19, 2003

I want to warn you fellers
And tell you one by one
What makes a gallows rope to swing
A woman and a gun

happyhippy posted:

His wife cant act for poo poo, its so obvious shes faking most of those orgasms. And shes a nurse, probably the most boring job ever in Seahaven as noone gets sick!
One of the latest rumours I read is that they are going to introduce the internet to Truman, heavily monitored of course, and....wait for it.....WE WILL BE ABLE TO TALK TO HIM! Man I cant wait, we should totally do a goon invasion.

Whatever happened to that goon who said he hijacked the sun program? Didn't he say he was going to make it rise at midnight in mid-April but never did? What a letdown.

DrScorp
Jun 21, 2000

rubber cat posted:

Some people say "Hey, if you don't like it, don't watch it". A valid point. But, once a show gets labeled the show of the millennium by Time magazine, you just kind of expect more, you know? I remember a time when The Show didn't have to rely on stupid gimmicks like the Miss Seahaven beauty pageant right next to Truman's office they had during sweeps.

I'm sorry but your post reads like typical nostalgic revisionist bullcrap. The Show has always used this gimmicks. Remember the big arc where they made Truman think his wife was cheating on him, but really they were just planning his surprise party? Please. Same when he was in high school and they had that huge anti-drug thing. Just say no Truman :rolleyes:. But it's that retarded craziness that really shows how REAL Truman is.

If anything, it's the recent heavy-handed political messages that're dragging The Show down. Look, we get it, when the liberals are in charge everything's great but when the conservatives took over there was a huge hurricane. Jeez, someone hired Al Gore.

OldSenileGuy
Mar 13, 2001
Just to nip it in the bud, can we PLEASE not turn this into another loving "Free Truman!" vs. "He's Better off in the Dome!" debate? It'd be nice to have one Truman Show thread that doesn't degenerate into that pointless circular loving debate.

THANKS GUYZ :haw:

Wraith
May 22, 2001

ARISE
ARISE, ROBOTS OF THEODEN
Are we ever going to find out why characters keep dying and then reappearing? Is it just that as soon as the writers solve a mystery they have to create a new one? The show is about characters and not just mysteries, you know.

Edit- I still don't think the control room is the Question Mark.

TheSwami
Sep 25, 2004
<img src="https://fi.somethingawful.com/customtitles/title-theswami-14.jpg"><br><i>hello old friend</i>
New episode's on right now guys.



edit: OH poo poo WHAT THE gently caress

Chamberk
Jan 11, 2004

when there is nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire
Posts like this just get me wondering how the hell they're going to keep this show going if they keep on this course. Rubber Cat is right, the recent plots have been incredibly boring - they've run out of interesting things to do! I for one don't intend to stick around for Geriatric Truman's arthritis woes. Bring in some new characters, or CHANGE something about Seahaven. Shake the place up a little bit.

The only face we really need is Truman, if you know what I'm saying.

anotherone
Feb 8, 2001
Username taken, please choose another one

OldSenileGuy posted:

Just to nip it in the bud, can we PLEASE not turn this into another loving "Free Truman!" vs. "He's Better off in the Dome!" debate? It'd be nice to have one Truman Show thread that doesn't degenerate into that pointless circular loving debate.

THANKS GUYZ :haw:

I haven't really heard much from the "Free Truman" camp since that crazy woman who used to post on trumantruth.com broke onto the set a few months ago. I think they're still kind of embarrased by that whole affair.

Chamberk posted:

Bring in some new characters, or CHANGE something about Seahaven. Shake the place up a little bit.

Well, if you listen to the latest Christof podcast, you'll be happy to know that They're going to have a baby!

anotherone fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Jun 21, 2006

J-Spot
May 7, 2002

Am I the only one who could never get into this show, even in its so-called "prime?" It's produced well, I'll give them that, but I just find Truman himself to be incredibly annoying. I don't know, there's something about his face that I can't stand. He looks like some obnoxious character from a tacky 90's comedy movie. It's a silly reason to hate something I know, but I just can't get past it.

Atma_Weapon
Jun 18, 2004
You know what they need? An Apocalypse of some sort. Not necessarily zombies, but some sort of end-of-the world scenario where Truman becames a John Connor figure. After this, he helps establish a nation in Seahaven and the show takes on more of a "West Wing" style.

Yeah, it's endlessly derivitive, but the plots just write themselves for the next 15 years.

edit: For further explanation, the apocalypse scenarios can cash in on the 24 style action genre. After that, the writers can really explore what it takes for a "government of the people", and "the human condition" after tremendous hardship, and the other themes that equates to Best Drama Emmy lock-in for a few years.

Atma_Weapon fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Jun 21, 2006

Father Wendigo
Sep 28, 2005
This is, sadly, more important to me than bettering myself.

Chamberk posted:

Posts like this just get me wondering how the hell they're going to keep this show going if they keep on this course. Rubber Cat is right, the recent plots have been incredibly boring - they've run out of interesting things to do! I for one don't intend to stick around for Geriatric Truman's arthritis woes. Bring in some new characters, or CHANGE something about Seahaven. Shake the place up a little bit.

Well what do you propose that isn’t going to sound cliché or hokey? The draft?

Chamberk
Jan 11, 2004

when there is nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire

Father Wendigo posted:

Well what do you propose that isn’t going to sound cliché or hokey? The draft?

Well, Atma_Weapon's idea is taking it a bit far, but the thing is, people don't want day-in day-out drudgery on TV - they get that every day in THEIR lives. For starters they could have Truman lose his job. (Get fired, make the office a worse place to work...) I mean, insurance salesmen are not known for their exciting lives. We could follow him as he finds his new vocation, a new job that he's always dreamed about. Maybe some new neighbors will move next door, and they'll have some sort of secret. New faces are always welcome. Maybe some sort of enemy for Truman - lord knows he gets along with almost everybody, it'd be interesting to see how he deals with an actual antagonist.

I'm just throwing these out here, but I still really want this show to go on - I love Truman. I just don't want it to go on in the state it's in.

The Landstander
Apr 20, 2004

I stand on land.
This poo poo is loving scripted and I'm disappointed this forum can't see that.

Keep living in your fantasy world. :rolleyes:

Splint Chesthair
Dec 27, 2004


TheSwami posted:

New episode's on right now guys.



edit: OH poo poo WHAT THE gently caress

TRUMAN'S DAD OUT OF loving NOWHERE!!!

thedaian
Dec 11, 2005

Blistering idiots.

happyhippy posted:

One of the latest rumours I read is that they are going to introduce the internet to Truman, heavily monitored of course, and....wait for it.....WE WILL BE ABLE TO TALK TO HIM! Man I cant wait, we should totally do a goon invasion.

How would they even manage to do this? It'd have to be something other than real time, otherwise all those people at trumantruth.com will attempt all sorts of things. Maybe it's just me, but I can't see that becoming reality. I guess they could get away with allowing him access to the internet, though, as long as he doesn't get a chance to talk to someone. I dunno, maybe it COULD work.

Chamberk's ideas are good ones. I'd watch an end of the world scenario, but that's just because I love scifi so much, I couldn't not watch. But it'd probably turn a lot of people off to the show. Making things more interesting in a normal sense would be better. I'd like to see them actually take him outside the dome on a nice vacation, but I know that'd be too dangerous (no, I'm not one of those "trumantruth.com supporters") Maybe if they put together a landmark in the dome for him to go to, like they did when he was younger. I don't think it'd fool him as well, though.

Fake Edit: The more I think about it, the more I love the enemy of Truman idea. It'd add some good drama to the show.

There's just so many seasons of the show at this point, there's not much they haven't done. Hell, they've repeated plotlines a few times (the tired old girlfriend breakup plots we dealt with in the High School and College years). I hate to say it, but unless the writers can think up new ideas, they really should just cancel the show. Truman isn't getting any younger, and I don't want to see him age past his prime on TV. Maybe it's time for some fresh blood.

nfreakct
Jul 14, 2003

I bet you wouldn’t be so bossy if you kissed a girl.

Splint Chesthair posted:

TRUMAN'S DAD OUT OF loving NOWHERE!!!

SERIOUSLY JESUS CHRIST. :monocle:

Is anyone else watching this?!?!? There was some drat hobo on the streets and while there weren't any good angles, Truman said, "Dad?" before there was this rush of people that seperated the two.

Holy crap, I think Christof is reading this thread.

FitFortDanga
Nov 19, 2004

Nice try, asshole

I heard Truman is a goon... confirm/deny?

Wanvig
Sep 8, 2003

Dammit I just lost my tv signal. Looks like I'll have to catch the replay.

nfreakct
Jul 14, 2003

I bet you wouldn’t be so bossy if you kissed a girl.
Okay guys. The kiddies at the Gageag (Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Goodnight) boards are going crazy and someone had this intriguing theory. Prepare for major :tinfoil: conspiracy time :tinfoil:.

Trueman1492 posted:

seriously this was unscripted. no way this was planned its nothing like christof's style. look at the facts

-the event happened at 10:49 in the morning. we all know the network and christof always waits until at least late afternoon for any major event to get the max viewers
-there was no planned flashback when truman saw his "dad". christof loves to milk past episodes for drama (look at the dozens of times truman has flashed back to his dad's death whenever he approaches the ferry). no way christof would not have a flashback planned for something as important as truman's dad
-no good lines. seriously they pay the writers thousands to come up with good dialogue, the only thing we have from today is "dad?".
-the bad use of extras to end the scene. a rush of people out of nowhere? that was a totally lame way to end the scene and i'll eat my shoe if christof planned it that way

yeah this assumes that really was truman's dad. but killamarlon awesome hd caps make it look pretty real. all this evidence points to a single conclusion. this was a major screwup!

Yeah, I know its real out there, but the guy makes some valid points. Christof is known for his incredible attention to detail and I hardly believe he would begin such a significant story arc (the possible return of Truman's dad?!?) with such a poorly planned throwaway scene. Of course, the implications if this was totally unplanned are also astounding. Has the security at the dome slipped that much (I thought for sure after the last break-in they swore that they'd solved all the problems).

1st AD
Dec 3, 2004

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: sometimes passing just isn't an option.
Holy crap, major spoilers ahead:

It looks like Meryl is going to leave Truman after the strain of their marriage takes their toll on her sanity, and he's going to start dating that hot little number at his office.

Say what you want about Christof, but that man takes RISKS that few other producers even dare in television. I think this totally makes up for the bullshit product spots we've been inundated with lately.

On a side note, I just got my season 21 DVDs, and am eagerly firing up 21x09, the episode where Truman drunkenly loses his virginity :fap:

Wanvig
Sep 8, 2003

1st AD posted:

Holy crap, major spoilers ahead:

Totally saw it coming.

Django
Dec 22, 2004

Django Grimehart
So, it was unplanned? Man, that's gonna kick things up a notch.

linus the bear
Sep 12, 2003

Django posted:

So, it was unplanned? Man, that's gonna kick things up a notch.

:argh: THIS loving SHOW :argh:

anotherone
Feb 8, 2001
Username taken, please choose another one

Django posted:

So, it was unplanned? Man, that's gonna kick things up a notch.

No way was it his dad. I don't know what you guys are watching but his whole facial structure was different. I didn't hear what he said but it wasn't "dad".

I will say this, though; I think they must be having some budget issues... first a loving LIGHT falls off the sky, and I think there was something wrong with the rain earlier this evening. :rolleyes:

Sugar Blaster
Dec 15, 2004

All ears, all eyes, all the time!
You know what'd really add some pizazz to the show? If Truman and Meryl were to adopt one of those kids from the Save the Children program. Imagine the hilarity as Truman tries to assimilate a young Nigerian child to the ways of modern day America! It wouldn't be all laughs though, as Truman has to help young Akunda come to terms with the rampant disease which consumes her village, culminating in the loss of her parents. I think if executed properly, this could breathe a second life into the stagnant universe.

shadok
Dec 12, 2004

You tried to destroy it once before, Commodore.
The result was a wrecked ship and a dead crew.
Fun Shoe

Trueman1492 posted:

yeah this assumes that really was truman's dad. but killamarlon awesome hd caps make it look pretty real. all this evidence points to a single conclusion. this was a major screwup!

I call shenanigans. Those caps have obviously been 'shopped, you can tell by the pixel distribution around his eyes and mouth - looks like somebody needs a new copy of "Photoshop for Dummies".

paperchaseguy
Feb 21, 2002

THEY'RE GONNA SAY NO

anotherone posted:

Well, if you listen to the latest Christof podcast, you'll be happy to know that They're going to have a baby!

Oh jesus, it's the oldest trick in the book. TV show writers run out of ideas, solution: bring in a new kid. TTS gets its own Cousin Oliver. :rolleyes: Could they possibly do something a little more hackneyed and cliched?

Season 27 was the weakest of the "good" seasons. I think I'll only buy the DVDs if the bloopers reel is any good. Anybody seen it already and care to comment?

Hawkman
Aug 6, 2002

daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn

J-Spot posted:

Am I the only one who could never get into this show, even in its so-called "prime?" It's produced well, I'll give them that, but I just find Truman himself to be incredibly annoying. I don't know, there's something about his face that I can't stand. He looks like some obnoxious character from a tacky 90's comedy movie. It's a silly reason to hate something I know, but I just can't get past it.
No, it's not just you. I don't know how anyone can stand to watch that stupid gently caress clowning around in his biodome version of the 1950s. If I wanted that I'd watch Leave It To Beaver reruns because at least they're entertaining, as opposed to Episode 8385351 of Truman dicking around with his income tax forms.

Splint Chesthair
Dec 27, 2004


Hawkman posted:

No, it's not just you. I don't know how anyone can stand to watch that stupid gently caress clowning around in his biodome version of the 1950s. If I wanted that I'd watch Leave It To Beaver reruns because at least they're entertaining, as opposed to Episode 8385351 of Truman dicking around with his income tax forms.

Yeah it's too bad Truman doesn't use message boards to post lame opinions because then you'd be facing some stiff competition, right? :rolleyes:

What part of "reality television" do you not loving understand? Of course he's going to be doing his taxes once in a while. Of course he's going to floss in front of the bathroom mirror for 20 minutes sometimes. (Does anyone else think the new mirror is too small, btw?) Truman is a REAL person living a REAL life while everyone else watches. No one's got a goddamn gun to your head, forcing you to watch it.

I can't stand these people who consistently bash the show just because "nothing interesting happens most of the time." If you hate the show so much, why don't you go rock climbing or whitewater rafting or something more "interesting" than Truman?

Every thread we have about this show, some rear end in a top hat has to come in and fag it up with unnecessary trolling. It's too bad these losers don't have anything better to do than bitch about a TV show. :sigh:

Since the OP mentioned ending the show, how does everyone think it should happen, if it does? I think it would be fascinating to have Truman "drafted" into serving in Iraq. The culture shock plus the potential drama of Truman seeing the war after being sheltered in Seahaven would make for some compelling television, IMHO. Plus, imagine how the nation would react if Truman were actually killed in action over there?

Of course, that would mean that they would have to introduce the war to Seahaven and build it up over the course of a few weeks. Maybe Marlon could be drafted first.

dr_rat
Jun 4, 2001
Its been poo poo for at least five seasons now. They should of canceled end of seasons eighteen. Since then its just been crap. why the gently caress does anyone still watch this poo poo when theres so many better shows out there. I mean they haven't even tried change the character at all since then. it's just the same loving show every episodes over and over.

Rich Uncle Chet
Jan 20, 2005


The Law? Law is a Human Institution.


dr_rat posted:

Its been poo poo for at least five seasons now. They should of canceled end of seasons eighteen. Since then its just been crap. why the gently caress does anyone still watch this poo poo when theres so many better shows out there. I mean they haven't even tried change the character at all since then. it's just the same loving show every episodes over and over.

I hate to say it, but I feel this way too. It was charming and something different when it first came on, but now I feel the only way that would get me to watch the show again is if they killed off the Truman character.

Every season the gimmick gets lamer and lamer. I guarantee you by the next season they're going to adopt a smooth-talking minority child to liven things up since things at home have just gotten so loving dull!

Hawkman
Aug 6, 2002

daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn

Splint Chesthair posted:

Yeah it's too bad Truman doesn't use message boards to post lame opinions because then you'd be facing some stiff competition, right? :rolleyes:
Oh god, don't hurt me Mr. Enraged TV Nerd. The fact that you apparently actually find fifteen minutes of Truman taking a huge dump followed by some eating of DELICIOUS SNACKY-O'S BY NABISCO(TM) and a brisk morning newspaper-reading interesting shows exactly how seriously I should take your opinion.

Honestly I watch the show for the same reason people can't look away from a train wreck. That and I'm waiting for Truman to finally snap and kill his wife, you know it's coming. When it does they'll probably run an advertisement for the brand of kitchen knife he uses. I can hear it now. "No, Truman, don't stab me with that razor-sharp Iron Chef-brand ginsu knife, $19.95 at your local Wal-Mart, suitable for all your kitchen cutting needs! Aaagh!"

edit:

dr_rat posted:

Its been poo poo for at least five seasons now. They should of canceled end of seasons eighteen. Since then its just been crap. why the gently caress does anyone still watch this poo poo when theres so many better shows out there. I mean they haven't even tried change the character at all since then. it's just the same loving show every episodes over and over.
Exactly.

Hawkman fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Jun 21, 2006

ClydeUmney
May 13, 2004

One can hardly ignore the Taoist implications of "Fuck it, Dude. Let's go bowling."

paperchaseguy posted:

Oh jesus, it's the oldest trick in the book. TV show writers run out of ideas, solution: bring in a new kid. TTS gets its own Cousin Oliver. :rolleyes: Could they possibly do something a little more hackneyed and cliched?

Season 27 was the weakest of the "good" seasons. I think I'll only buy the DVDs if the bloopers reel is any good. Anybody seen it already and care to comment?

Hey, nice way to completely give away the spoiler, rear end in a top hat! :mad: Some of us like to be surprised.

And, you know what: all you people complaining about the show wearing out its welcome need to just grow up and realize that you're just spoiled by the greatness of the early seasons. Bad Truman is still better than almost anything else on television.

Dark Grapefruit
Jun 3, 2006

All cans are welcome and equal in your city, regardless of can content, and whether empty or full.

Django posted:

So, it was unplanned? Man, that's gonna kick things up a notch.

No way, it has to have been planned. The setup, with the extras ready and everything, was just too perfect to be a coincidence. The same complaints in this thread are all over the official trumanshow.com boards, so I'm guessing Christof is taking some advice and mixing up the style/presentation of story arcs. I for one think this was a the best scene in quite a while and I'm definitely curious as to where it's going to go.

nfreakct
Jul 14, 2003

I bet you wouldn’t be so bossy if you kissed a girl.
Look, no one except those insane Truman cult worshipers (talk about scary) watches every second of the show. Even I don't have the time nowadays to do much other than watch the 30-minute highlight show they air in the evening documenting the top events.

But you can't deny how the Truman Show revolutionized television. Only a visionary like Christof would take "reality" televion (and let's face it, most reality television is hardly real) and take the next logical step. It's a scary world out there and it's comforting to think somewhere on this planet there resides a cozy little town with nice people and a man named Truman living the perfect normal life (outside of sweeps months of course). Other reality shows tried to "document" reality, Christof realized that what would be far more interesting was to create your own reality and see how people are in it.

Yeah, the product placements are getting more and more intrusive and its grating on a lot of people. Meryl's insistence to pitch everything can be horribly misplaced (face it, she's not a great actor and never was) and now they've even started running the ad tickers during the down hours (and don't even talk about those godawful bumpers that take of 1/4th of the screen). But hopefully they're hearing our complaints about this and are looking to tone it down.

Tom Tucker
Jul 19, 2003

I want to warn you fellers
And tell you one by one
What makes a gallows rope to swing
A woman and a gun

Django posted:

So, it was unplanned? Man, that's gonna kick things up a notch.

There are only 2 real possibilities here. 1: It was his dad and he somehow snuck onto the set, but there's no way that's the case because of all the tightened security after the paradrop guy, I hear they have armed guards on the roof now, but that might just be a rumor. And Cristof isn't stupid enough to put the Truman's Dad back on the show on purpose, the guy has sued Cristof like 20 times to get Truman out of the show, if Cristof let's him in the first thing he'll do is tell Truman the truth.

The only possibility is it wasn't his Dad, and that means either Truman just got confused or they found a look-alike to try to create some emotional drama. It seems it's working, these past few days he's been acting really weird. This is just the kind of poo poo stunt the show has been pulling over the past few years, gently caress with Truman's head for ratings.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Stabbey_the_Clown
Sep 21, 2002

Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?
Taco Defender
While the show is getting a bit stale, they're not going to send Truman to Iraq or have a disaster wipe out the town, or any over-the-top melodrama like that. That's just silly talk.

What I'd do to spice the show up is to add in some intrigue. Maybe have someone get murdered. Someone Truman knows, so he's a suspect, but not so much a suspect that he gets thrown in jail. They could build it up for a couple weeks with the victim being a reak dick to Truman and pissing him off, make it good. And what would be really neat is if they didn't show Truman during the time the murder was commited, just to add a "did he do it" suspense in the audience's mind. If Christoph is good enough - and I bet he is - he could even pretend that the murder was actually real - it wans't just a character dying, but the actor that protrayed that character was actually murdered. He could use his influence to get cops to go along with it and pretend that the murder actually happened. Then when it gets solved, Christoph reveals that the actor is actually alive and well!

That would be loving awesome.