Talking about other shows in this forum

Lovely Bloke

I just want to see what the consensus is about talking about other shows in this forum.

Whether it be the current season of Dexter, or an episode of The Sopranos.

It's well and good to say "the sopranos has been finished for 6 years, everyone should have seen it by now or else they deserve to be spoiled".

Frankly, I think that's pretentious bullshít.

It's been finished 6 years, so say if someone was 15 then, they are 21 now and in college, maybe looking for something to watch, having been 9 years old when The Sopranos started, it's entirely plausible that they haven't yet watched it.

Even people in their 30s and beyond - maybe they had young kids over the last decade, or 15 years, and just hadn't the time to sit down once a week at a set time and get through 6 seasons of something, or plough through box sets - I know myself it took me over 2 years to complete The Sopranos, and that was watching about 2 epsiodes a week, and taking a break between season to watch other box sets - then coupled with the amazing shows which have been gracing our screens in the past decade or so, it's unsurprising that many people haven't seen a lot of the "must see" shows.

Personally I'm only half way through season 3 of The Wire for the first time.

I watch it when I can, usually once a week when I get in from football I watch an episode when I'm winding down. I'd hate to be reading this forum and come across a spoiler like "Remeber Stringer killed that cat in Episode 7 of Season 4, man that was awesome" - it's not fair.

Or is it - should philistines who haven't watched the same shows as you be subjected to your spoilers just because YOU think "ah sure it's not really a spoiler, it's been finished for so long, it's your own fault you haven't seen it" - I think that rude and unjustifiable, especially given how god damn easy it is to just use a spoiler box.

Thoughts?

Sinfonia

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

I just want to see what the consensus is about talking about other shows in this forum.

Whether it be the current season of Dexter, or an episode of The Sopranos.

It's well and good to say "the sopranos has been finished for 6 years, everyone should have seen it by now or else they deserve to be spoiled".

Frankly, I think that's pretentious bullshít.

It's been finished 6 years, so say if someone was 15 then, they are 21 now and in college, maybe looking for something to watch, having been 9 years old when The Sopranos started, it's entirely plausible that they haven't yet watched it.

Even people in their 30s and beyond - maybe they had young kids over the last decade, or 15 years, and just hadn't the time to sit down once a week at a set time and get through 6 seasons of something, or plough through box sets - I know myself it took me over 2 years to complete The Sopranos, and that was watching about 2 epsiodes a week, and taking a break between season to watch other box sets - then coupled with the amazing shows which have been gracing our screens in the past decade or so, it's unsurprising that many people haven't seen a lot of the "must see" shows.

Personally I'm only half way through season 3 of The Wire for the first time.

I watch it when I can, usually once a week when I get in from football I watch an episode when I'm winding down. I'd hate to be reading this forum and come across a spoiler like "Remeber Stringer killed that cat in Episode 7 of Season 4, man that was awesome" - it's not fair.

Or is it - should philistines who haven't watched the same shows as you be subjected to your spoilers just because YOU think "ah sure it's not really a spoiler, it's been finished for so long, it's your own fault you haven't seen it" - I think that rude and unjustifiable, especially given how god damn easy it is to just use a spoiler box.

Thoughts?

There's no problem talking about other shows, it's always gonna happen, but it should be put in spoiler tags.

nc6000

Well that just ruined Episode 7 from Season 4 of The Wire for me.

Lovely Bloke

nc6000 wrote: »

Well that just ruined Episode 7 from Season 4 of The Wire for me.

no cats are killed

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

no cats are killed

damn, can't spoiler tag images

Chet T16

I've never watched the sopranos/dexter/the wire although its on the list of ones to watch and to see the episode threads full of comparisons is extremely annoying either because of spoilers or because the references mean nothing to me.

Sinfonia

Chet T16 wrote: »

I've never watched the sopranos/dexter/the wire although its on the list of ones to watch and to see the episode threads full of comparisons is extremely annoying either because of spoilers or because the references mean nothing to me.

To be fair, if you were in a thread about Django Unchained (for example), you'd undoubtedly have conversations mentioning details of other Tarantino films, other films that are seen to influence Django and/or directly influenced it, and pretty much any film in the same genre. Not to mentioned contemporaneous releases.
If you were in a thread about Macbeth you'd have references to Hamlet and other plays.

You can't expect to be involved in a discussion about a television show and for people not to mention any other show. At least people have the option of putting the spoiler tags on, which I prefer, as it gives the reader the option of whether or not to read it.

But comparative discussion shouldn't be stifled because of those people who haven't seen the other shows.

The length of time since a show has ended does hold some validity too, in that it's obviously a lot different to start talking about the latest episode of another show (as undoubtedly plenty will not have seen it, even if they are ardent followers) than an episode that aired 5 years ago.

nc6000

nc6000 wrote: »

Well that just ruined Episode 7 from Season 4 of The Wire for me.

That was a joke BTW. I've seen The Wire.

Mousewar

Spoiler tags are a courtesy. Not using them is discourteous.
If I were talking about Pyscho, a film from 53 years ago, I'd spoiler-tag the ending. That is not an ending that any human being should have spoiled on them.

luketitz

I was thinking the same as the OP when I read the comment that I'm certain was the catalyst for this thread. I wasn't enraged enough to start a thread on it it, but I do agree with the sentiment.

snausages

It's a shame when someone spoils stuff out of spite but I genuinely think that the Sopranos is good enough that having a plot twist inadvertently betrayed shouldn't really affect your enjoyment of it. Regarding the finale it's so firmly embedded in popular culture it's almost impossible now to 'spoil' it.

krudler

snausages wrote: »

It's a shame when someone spoils stuff out of spite but I genuinely think that the Sopranos is good enough that having a plot twist inadvertently betrayed shouldn't really affect your enjoyment of it. Regarding the finale it's so firmly embedded in popular culture it's almost impossible now to 'spoil' it.

Exactly, there are certain scenes and plot devices and character deaths and such that become ingrained in popular culture where it becomes a reference, say, I dunno, The Crying Game, I've never seen it fully, I know the big twist, it wouldn't prevent me ever watching it if I felt like it.

rubadub

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

d just hadn't the time to sit down once a week at a set time and get through 6 seasons of something, or plough through box sets

That would be like me. I have had the boxsets in my house for years now and still have to get around to watching them. Same with breaking bad I waited until I knew it was going to end before I started watching

I was wondering if there were definitions of "spoiler" out there, as I certainly did not agree with the one in the other thread, -that the moment its aired/out its fair game to be spoiled.

One wiki page on spoilers was talking of how prolific spoiler alerts got, and there was some place with spoilers about the 3 little pigs, other fairy tales and biblical stories. I couldn't find any other timeframes in definitions.

Marketing is about making money, it can be at any cost, lots of amoral deceitful marketing scumbags out there, so I can understand some marketer having no conscience or respect for people's wishes not to have programs spoiled in ads etc. I have to wonder about others lack of respect though, I know a guy who really seems to enjoy ruining films for others.

snausages

In the context of online discussion it's only common etiquette not to put spoilers up but outside of that I really think the responsibility lies with the viewer to avoid spoilers themselves. I think that the definition of spoiler should really only apply to concrete plot details that a viewer would not expect to know in advance and not stuff like 'this movie is about x' or 'something important happens in this episode'. Like if Peter Parker gets bitten by a radioactive spider, hardly a spoiler at this point. Something like Keyser Soze, that's a spoiler, although it's one of the most spoiled spoilers ever at this point.

Wacker The Attacker

Mousewar wrote: »

Spoiler tags are a courtesy. Not using them is discourteous.
If I were talking about Pyscho, a film from 53 years ago, I'd spoiler-tag the ending. That is not an ending that any human being should have spoiled on them.

How I laughed at that ending. Too funny

chops018

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

I know myself it took me over 2 years to complete The Sopranos

It took you over 2 years to watch the Sopranos :eek:

rubadub

chops018 wrote: »

It took you over 2 years to watch the Sopranos :eek:

wiki says there were 86 episodes, some might just watch 1 a week.

The other reason people might hold off is to get to watch the full uncensored version. Netflix censor some bits in breaking bad. I also value the commentary & extras in some places, there were several bits in BB which had me confused and the extras on the DVD explained it. I would not listen to full commentary on BB but could rewind and just listen to 1 small bit.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Mousewar

Netflix censoring came up before. They don't. They simply broadcast exactly what is aired by AMC on US telly. Often that has already been censored or cut by the network, such as breasts being covered and swear words muted.
The DVD, on the other hand, is uncut.
I've watched both - the changes are minimal.

Sinfonia

Also, there's two versions of the pilot, one is around 55mins, the other about 45, with some scenes cut (not necessarily for censorship as such).
Netflix has the shorter version, but I'm almost certain the rest of the episodes are as they should be.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

People 100% should be spoiler tagging other shows even when comparing stuff, infact I'm surprised it's not built in to the charters in each tv show forum. I don't know how mnay people I have come across on here, the Wire forum or GoT forum who have said that something huge was ruined for them on another forum.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar