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That Entertainment Weekly List Issue- GAH!

post #1 of 34
6/21/08 at 12:43pm
Thread Starter 
I know, I know.

Entertainment Weekly did its 25th anniversary issue, and it's lists of the best stuff from the past 25 years. And its infuriating to the degree in which you fear this magazine's far reaching influence on the tastemaking soccer moms of the world.

Top 100 Movies of the Past 25-
-Lord of the Rings at number two.
-Pretty Woman is the 37th best, beating out pretty much all your favorite movies, including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at 38.
-Die Hard at 9 (what?), and they find room for Speed, The Matrix, Casino Royale, Aliens, Gladiator, Men In Black, T2 and yet not a single mention of Robocop?
-Shrek at 25.
-First foreign film pops up at 28 (Wings of Desire), only 16 spots below The Matrix.
-They missed the memo on the eighties completely sucking.
-Most Best Picture Oscar winners, some entirely dubious, get their moments to shine, including "Rain Man" and "Out of Africa".
-Two movies represent Asia, and one is "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
-Comedies include Shrek, When Harry Met Sally, Clueless, Austin Powers, Napoleon Dynamite and Breaking The Waves.
-65. Dirty Dancing. What, no room for Road House?

The TV one was a little better, but I do admit dry-heaving when I saw "Arrested Development" at 16 and "Sex and the City" at 5. And the album one? Problems start with "OK Computer" at 62 and just get much worse.
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post #2 of 34
6/21/08 at 12:56pm
Tell us more about your favorite movies.
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post #3 of 34
6/21/08 at 1:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KABONG View Post

The TV one was a little better, but I do admit dry-heaving when I saw "Arrested Development" at 16 and "Sex and the City" at 5.
http://chud.com/articles/articles/14...VIE/Page1.html
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post #4 of 34
6/21/08 at 1:22pm
I wish Tom Wilkinson could alter my mind so that I liked ETERNAL SUNSHINE.
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post #5 of 34
6/21/08 at 2:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sacrilicious Supersucker View Post
Get serious, man.

Did "Sex And The City" suddenly become a sacred cow? Or is it actually one of the ten or twenty best television series' of the last 25 years? Do you think so?
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post #6 of 34
6/21/08 at 7:01pm
It could be worse, they could have listed Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon instead of Lord of the Rings at no. 2.
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post #7 of 34
6/21/08 at 7:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu View Post
It could be worse, they could have listed Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon instead of Lord of the Rings at no. 2.
Hey! Don't be knocking Sho Nuff!
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post #8 of 34
6/21/08 at 7:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu View Post
It could be worse, they could have listed Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon instead of Lord of the Rings at no. 2.
That's giving Entertainment Weakly way too much credit.
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post #9 of 34
6/21/08 at 7:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu View Post
It could be worse, they could have listed Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon instead of Lord of the Rings at no. 2.

That sounds good to me.
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post #10 of 34
6/21/08 at 8:44pm
Back to the Future is better than at least 75 of these movies, yet its in the 90s. Ridiculous list. Complete fail.
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post #11 of 34
6/22/08 at 1:04pm
As bad as the movie list is, the album list is a billion times worse. To give you a general idea, American Idiot and Amy Winehouse are in the top 10.

I've read a lot of these types of lists, and I know they're just silly conversation-starters, but this one actually made me a little mad.
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post #12 of 34
6/22/08 at 4:11pm
As usual, it looks like EW let the interns join in on the discussions.
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post #13 of 34
6/22/08 at 5:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KABONG View Post
Get serious, man.

Did "Sex And The City" suddenly become a sacred cow? Or is it actually one of the ten or twenty best television series' of the last 25 years? Do you think so?
I don't think it's a sacred cow, but I do think Devin's commentary is pretty dead on. I honestly haven't seen enough of the show to have an opinion that matters. I watched several episodes when it was first on and I remember the early episodes being fairly sharp. I didn't love them, but I surely didn't hate them either. Let me ask you, since you seem to hate them, why do you think it's an awful show?

You have to recognize that it's one of the most culturally significant shows of the past 25 years and one that's obviously left a lasting impression that women still respond to. You and I may not love it, but we're not the target audience. I don't have a problem with it being ranked high, especially by a magazine like EW. If you despise it for a lack of perceived quality, share that.

Of course, I haven't seen the overall list(s) yet, so I feel no overall outrage.
I am leaning towards agreeing with Dave B on the music list sight unseen. American Idiot is a seriously overrated album and even though I love Back to Black, I don't see where it merits top 10 from the past 25 years. Top 100, no doubt but top 25? Dubious.
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post #14 of 34
6/22/08 at 5:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sacrilicious Supersucker View Post
You have to recognize that it's one of the most culturally significant shows of the past 25 years and one that's obviously left a lasting impression that women still respond to.
But I believe the list is "Best TV Shows of the Past 25 Years," not "Most Culturally Significant TV Shows of the Past 25 Years."
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post #15 of 34
6/22/08 at 6:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Will Kane View Post
But I believe the list is "Best TV Shows of the Past 25 Years," not "Most Culturally Significant TV Shows of the Past 25 Years."
True, but I've yet to see anyone give a reason why it's an awful show that doesn't belong on the list. The fact that it holds that sort of cultural significance gives it some sort of credibility. If people feel it's truly awful, please have at it. I just want some reasoning behind bashing it other than it wasn't aimed at our demographic.
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post #16 of 34
6/22/08 at 6:15pm
I just don't think it is as good as:
  • The Cosby Show
  • Lost
  • South Park
  • Freaks and Geeks
  • The Office (UK version)
  • The Larry Sanders Show
  • Arrested Development
  • The West Wing
  • My So-Called Life
  • Homicide: Life on the Street
  • The Wire
  • Friday Night Lights
  • The Daily Show
  • Deadwood
  • The Office (US version)

Those are all shows that it is listed above.
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post #17 of 34
6/22/08 at 7:10pm
That's about as far as I can argue Sex and the City, given what I've already stated. Let me snag the issue of EW from someone at work tomorrow that I know will have it and I may be able to argue something more. I will add that from the episodes I've seen it takes balls to argue either My So Called Life or Friday Night Lights as better than Sex. Both shows are mediocre programs that have gummed the teat of critics as much or more than Sex. I'd also say that Cosby and Sex are about a wash.
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post #18 of 34
6/22/08 at 7:38pm
FNL has at least 10 characters that I care more about than anyone from SATC. The writing is realistic (aside from the results of the football games, but a realistic football game is boring television) and aside from the Landry killing the rapist storyline and aftermath, everything has been outstanding.

The reason critics love it is because its pretty fucking good.

As for MSCL, I have a soft spot for a drama about a HS kid looking to find themselves. I also think that Mr. & Mrs. Chase are one of the best set of TV parents ever to come across the airwaves.
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post #19 of 34
6/22/08 at 7:44pm
I liked the rapist storyline for the most part. I thought the bullshit with Riggins and the drug dealer was a lot more ridonkulus when it came to stupid season two storylines.
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post #20 of 34
6/22/08 at 7:45pm
Thread Starter 
Well, Supersucker, I think it has to do with the emptiness and the callow self-worth of the characters. It was a genre show, which Devin has right, in that it devalued actual real human interaction, instead favoring the money shot of glamour or glitz. Carrie was a self-centered, fairly crude woman, and I guess one of the jokes must have been how she valued exorcising her own demons through her blog-like column of facile life lessons that revealed and often trivialized the struggles of her own friends, who were always in worse situations than her. Along with that, there's Samantha as the show's irresponsible id, someone who was so free-wheeling that by the time it came to her cancer scare, it was not unlike the comics and sci-fi Devin mocks, where suddenly a one-dimensional superhero has to deal with drugs or out of wedlock children.

I don't think it was a so-so show, I think it was a TERRIBLE show, and culturally, I struggle to reason what positives it did for society, so I'm not even sure the "culturally relevant" thing washes, especially compared to the funnier and more humanistic "Cosby Show".
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post #21 of 34
6/22/08 at 7:47pm
I liked the idea of it (Landry rescues her, they get together because she falls for him, etc.), but the way they handled it didn't sit well with me. When dad and Landry destroy the car, that's when it got ridiculous for me. He's a cop, he should know that if Landry & Tyra tell their story, odds are that things will work out.
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post #22 of 34
6/22/08 at 8:56pm
A list bereft of TV classics like...
The A-Team
Hunter
T.J. Hooker
The Unit
Star Trek

is a meaningless list.
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post #23 of 34
6/22/08 at 9:02pm
Oh duke fleed, you never fail to amuse. But Star Trek was more than 25 years ago.
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post #24 of 34
6/22/08 at 11:14pm
Supremo, You are right, I did goof with Star Trek...so replace it with Airwolf a kick ass show in its own right. Magnum P.I. would be another good show left off this list.
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post #25 of 34
6/22/08 at 11:23pm
Well, I lost interest when I saw the Matrix was higher than Schindler's List.


No Rescue Me in the TV list was another disappointment as well.


And in music... no Cracked Rear View - Hootie and the Blowfish. Ultimate fail.
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post #26 of 34
6/22/08 at 11:23pm
I say a door to door poll spanning the globe will resolve this bullshit inanity.

We can then see the scores of hundreds place Gremlins 2 at the top of the heap.
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post #27 of 34
6/22/08 at 11:26pm
I'm shocked that The Shawshank Redemption didn't make the list. It's one of a handful of dramas that mainstream movie fans actually like. That movie has always been way up there on IMDB's top 250, and it doesn't even get a mention? Wow.

Of course, I can criticize the rest of the list, but it's EW.
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post #28 of 34
6/22/08 at 11:38pm
Eh. Shawshank Redemption is no Napoleon Dynamite.
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post #29 of 34
6/24/08 at 1:41am
Just finally got to see the lists today and yeah, they're pretty screwy. What's so maddening about the movie list is it's impossible to tell what criteria they're going by to judge what makes the list. You have piece of shit like Speed that makes, what, top 25? Yet, Hannah and Her Sisters is number seven? Huh? How would those two views fit together? One minute it seems like pop culture significance is the deciding factor and the next it's actual quality.

Music is worse though. Unless I missed it Nevermind didn't even make the list.
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post #30 of 34
6/24/08 at 1:52am
They went with - it seems - one album an artist. I would have put Sign O the Times in there as well, but Prince got #1 with Purple Rain.

Total bullshit, but all lists are.
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post #31 of 34
6/24/08 at 1:56am
I think two was the cutoff. I know it was with Directors on the movie list. I saw two Radiohead albums on the list. Which also baffled me because In Rainbows was in the top 10. It's a great album but I don't think it's their best. That one I won't argue too hard since I know it's very debatable depending on the fan.
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post #32 of 34
6/24/08 at 3:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sacrilicious Supersucker View Post
Music is worse though. Unless I missed it Nevermind didn't even make the list.
In TV shows, unless I missed it, Angel didn't make the Top 100 either. Blah
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post #33 of 34
6/26/08 at 1:24pm
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/s...ense.html#more

"Let's begin with a fundamental fact: lists are bullshit. Lists are such blatant bullshit that any magazine person will admit to you that they're bullshit. Some might need to have had a couple of drinks first, others might be more effectively cajoled by having you complain for the millionth time in the course of a conversation about how your own favorite cultural artifact was left off some list or another, but they'll admit it. Furthermore, even lists purportedly based on data and research and objective standards are, at some level, bullshit. That U.S. News and World Report annual list of America's best colleges? Guess what..."

- From Glenn Kenny, who's had his hands in more lists than the most of us.
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post #34 of 34
7/3/08 at 2:41pm
No "Shawshank Redemption" on the list was a huge miss. It's true it wasn't a BO success but I defy you to find one person who hasn't seen it. Great film and big miss for EW.
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