Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with shows

Dê o dom da linguagem.

mykescipark — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 22:55:04 -0800

Interesting Portuguese-language shows on DVD? My best buddy is ridiculous with picking up languages. He's learned Portuguese in a matter of weeks and has upgraded his cable/satellite package to get more Brazilian stations to continue his immersion. For his birthday I'd like to pop for a cool TV show / series / etc. on DVD that he can enjoy as part of his latest language safari. I'm thinking something fictional but compelling in a modern drama vein might be best (since comedy rarely translates well and he's not much on fluff/pop-culture type stuff). It can be from any of the Portuguese-speaking territories. (We're in the U.S., but I am familiar with the magic of MacTheRipper, so don't let the region restrictions concern you.) Your thoughts as always appreciated!

More Like This Please

Miko — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:01:57 -0800

Last week I finally saw Sleep No More and cannot stop thinking about it. I want more immersive theatre and exploration. What other experiences are like it? I'm very interested in event production and the arts in general, and was just really in awe of the strong, highly detailed atmospherics and the otherworldliness of the experience. I spent a lot of time simply exploring the sets and taking in the music and lighting, enjoying the opportunity to be completely immersed in a fictional environment. I've read about the company that developed it and will track their future activities, but I wondered: what other kinds of experience might I find similar to it?

Note: Though I'm aware that fantasy environments not dissimilar to SNM's are easy enough to find in the world of sex play, that's not the aspect of the performance I'm interested in, so would no follow up on any sex club/event recommendations. Also not all that interested in ghost tours/haunted houses.

It could be that SNM is just that unique, but it would be great to learn about anything with a similar vibe.

I will survive!

mittenedsex — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 08:59:30 -0800

Prepping for a five hour layover in Houston (and lots of other holiday traveling in the next three weeks). What are your favorite movies or shows to watch while traveling? I anticipate lots of time spent in airports* and on planes in the next 3 weeks. Prepping for this by loading up my laptop and/or Nexus 7 with great movies & shows to watch!

Some requirements:
- Doesn't necessarily have to be travel or holiday themed, but I'll take 'em. (Might feel a little hokey day of. I don't know.)

- No nudity, please! Minimal gore & violence. The movie doesn't have to be G or PG rated, but I don't want to have to shield my screen from the six year old who will inevitably be kicking my seat and peeking through the seats.

- Not action-heavy. I suffer from motion sickness (though I'll be taking dramamine). Nothing to make it worse please!

- Nothing that takes enormous brain power. 12+ hours is a long time to kill. I do NOT want to fall asleep (don't want to mess up my sleep cycle too badly). The easier to follow the better. I'm okay with guilty-pleasure stuff. This thread is actually pretty handy, but I'd like some variety. (Plus I've seen some of those lots of times already...). Easier psychological thrillers, perhaps?

- I haven't seen a lot of movies in the past 3 years or so. No need to self-limit just because "Oh, but everyone's seen THAT."

- If you have a favorite (regardless of my requirements), I want to hear it anyway! (Just let me know if it breaks rule #1.)

- Tears or fears okay. I have no problems with weeping on the plane. Emotions are good.

- I think TV shows are the perfect length, but I've had really bad luck with rewatching shows. Most recently watched "Whites" on hulu and really enjoyed it (to my surprise). Would definitely require subs on a flight, though.

I'd like to arm myself with a variety and then pick and choose day of based on mood. Purposely haven't listed too much about the stuff I like to keep things open. I usually have absolutely no problems with indie films or subtitles, but I don't know how great they'll fare while traveling. SUGGEST AWAY!

* I don't have high hopes, but is there anything exciting to do in IAH during my layover?

How do you get people to come to a comedy show?

Charity Garfein — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:00:44 -0800

How do you get people to come to your shows? I host a comedy show with a few friends. It's a monthly show at a popular venue, but after a year we're still sometimes struggling to draw an audience. Let's assume for these purposes that we're producing the highest quality show we can. (And we certainly feel like we are.)

The venue holds about 150 people; we've had one sell-out, and some shows with around 60 people, but more often the number is closer to 30. (And often not even that.) So far, we have:

++ Bought Facebook ads (berg), though that did not appear to translate into actual people liking/adding us
++ Talked the show up to anyone who would listen
++ Asked the venue to put us in their weekly newsletter
++ Posted on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblrs, etc., about the show
++ Sent out press releases to relevant sites/magazines
++ Encouraged guests to tweet/post about the show

We've had decent success getting press coverage, but that hasn't translated at all to bigger houses as far as we can tell.

What are some ways — conventional and not — that you've been able to get bigger, sustained audiences? Or what has enticed you to attend a show? What are we not thinking about? We're in Brooklyn, if that affects your answering.

Beating the crowd at Terminal 5

griphus — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 08:30:12 -0800

My girlfriend and I are seeing the Faint at Terminal 5 on Friday; how best to avoid the crowd? Doors are at 8, and the first (of three) bands comes on at 9. Neither of us are particularly keen on seeing either opening band, honestly.

When I go see shows alone, I generally show up whenever I want (i.e. usually for/during the last opener) and push my way into a spot with good visibility. She's not a fan of being in the midst of a throng or pushing, so when we see shows together, we go to a part of the venue that isn't particularly dense: the seats on the lefthand side at Webster Hall, or upstairs at Music Hall of Williamsburg for instance.

It's been a while since I've been at a venue like Terminal 5, which I assume is closer to Roseland or Hammerstein and I'm used to the crowd mechanics of smaller venues. When ought we show up and where should we stake out a nice spot? If there's a seated upstairs like at Roseland/Music Hall that would be ideal. I seem to be having trouble finding a layout of the venue online.

Recommend me a last.fm-style website for movies, books, and TV shows.

apip — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 18:52:02 -0800

Is there a last.fm-esque website for movies? I want something that allows me to keep track of what I've watched (really, any media tracking website) I want to keep track of the movies (and books/TV shows, but mostly movies) I watch last.fm style.

So far, I've found jinni.com and it looks interesting. I remember using another movie tracking website that listed a bunch of movies and asked if I'd seen them or want to see them, but I can't remember what it was.

On the book front, I have librarything.com and goodreads.com. Other recommendations are appreciated!

I haven't found anything as far as TV trackers. I used this Android app for a while, but I didn't like it.

Thanks!

Join us next month for more Adventures

Potomac Avenue — Fri, 25 May 2012 08:55:33 -0800

Has there ever been a Monthly television program? Why not if not? Could a monthly TV show work? Has anyone ever tried it?

Is there any indication that people would or would not watch it?

Is there something about advertising budgets or scheduling that would make it difficult to sell against a monthly entertainment?

Finally there any studies about why shows in the US are on either a weekly, seasonal schedule (like a sitcom or Nightline) or a daily constant schedule (like the news or the fake news), instead of monthly?

Was this a real TV show or am I imagining things?

sunshine arakhan — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:20:46 -0800

Was this a real TV show or am I imagining things? Circa early-mid 90's, an American show about a family (maybe just a single dad?) with a few sons (ages between 10 - 15?) that owned and lived at a holiday motel complex. The episode I seem to remember is one of the boys was cleaning or going through a guests room after they had stayed and found a porno mag. This is the only clip I can seem to remember, and an interesting one at that seeing as I may have only been 6 or 7 years old at the time! So was this a real show?

Thanks!

Where is my iTunes Mad Men episode hiding?

thebrokenmuse — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:19:05 -0800

Where is my iTunes Mad Men episode hiding? I bought the season premiere of Mad Men in iTunes last night, and let the SD version download and paused the HD version so that I could watch it faster.

I watched half the episode and planned on watching the rest tonight. Well, now it's missing. It isn't in downloads, it isn't in purchased, it isn't in tv shows. The only version showing up is the not downloaded HD version and I don't want to wait another 6 hours (no, I don't know why it takes that long either) for that one to download.

My sister suggested that I look in available downloads, not there either. Any ideas?

Help me find this amazing Korean TV show!

shushufindi — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:57:56 -0800

A while ago, someone posted a description of this show in a MeFi thread. According to the poster, this was a Korean show "all about people who did mundane things very, very well". Can anyone tell me the name of this show and tell me how to find it?

Short but awesome kids' shows

QryHavoq — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:34:30 -0800

What are the best kids' shows for ages 6-12? I work with an after school program, and I've been asked to find shows that the kids can watch. I barely watch TV, so I have no idea where to begin!
Educational would be best but I am open to all suggestions. I'm looking for shows that are about half an hour in length and available on DVD (no broadcast TV). The audience will be a mix of boys and girls, all different personalities, 6-12. We cycle through different activity stations so they'll be watching in small groups as an occasional treat. They're separated by age so the shows do not have to be perfect for every age at once, but we are working on a lean budget.
Thank you!

How to find my show on Netflix?

grak88 — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:45:12 -0800

Netflix shows disappear? Why do some shows disappear off Netflix? I'm in Canada and I watched two episodes of Portlandia and now it's gone. Search and browse comes up with nothing. What gives?

Can i make a reality show into a musical?

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 08:58:49 -0800

Legality/advisability of turning a reality show season into a musical? I would like to produce a musical (an extremely low budget one to put on in bars and dirty theater spaces) based on a season of a particularly infamous reality show. Our budget is 0, and there's almost no way anyone could mistake it for an official product of the network.

Does this fall under parody? It will definitely be satirical, or at least humorously terrible. Will I get away with it most likely even if it's sort-of violating IP law a little? It's been a long time since it was on TV (in TV terms), does that make a difference?

Do I have to change the names to protect the innocent or are they public figures I can make fun of?

Has anyone done something like this before? It's hard to google... "Reality TV Quadruple Off Broadway Shows"?

Wild speculation based on little to no legal expertise welcome!

(MeMail me if you'd like to know which show I'm talking about or if you want to audition)

Get me hooked on a TV show in one episode

DevilsAdvocate — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:55:56 -0800

Recommend the one episode that will get me hooked on a good TV show. Various shows are repeatedly recommended in "recommend a TV series" AskMes. But of the frequently-recommended shows, there's far too many for me to get involved in.

So, suppose you could show someone one episode of a show to try to get them hooked on it. What episode would you recommend they watch? The show can be recent or old, completed or currently running.

A caveat: do not recommend the first episode of a program just because it's a continuity-heavy show and "you have to watch them in order!!!" Really, I don't. I got hooked on Lost after seeing "Live Together, Die Alone," the second season finale. I got hooked on the 2004 Battlestar Galactica after seeing "Pegasus," the season 2 mid-season finale. I ended up going back and watching the earlier episodes for both shows. So don't worry that I'll be spoiled (I enjoyed season 1 of BSG when I went back and watched it, even knowing that ________ was a Cylon) or that I won't pick up on every last nuance if I haven't seen all the prior episodes (I might not, but I don't have to to decide if I like it or not). If the pilot episode is a legitimately strong episode which is the best choice to attract a new viewer to the show, that's fine, but I find that's rarely the case since shows are often still trying to find their footing at that point.

(Also, I'm not going to give a list of ~20 shows I've seen most or all episodes of, even though I could, as recommendations for those shows may be useful to other readers even if not to me personally.)

Is the $20 Las Vegas sandwich for real?

YukonQuirm — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:09:26 -0800

Is the twenty dollar sandwich a myth? We are headed to THEHotel at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and I'm wondering if it is worthwhile trying this trick. It's really not my style to try and ask for more than what we've paid for and I wonder if this sort of bribe or whatever you want to call it is something that is perhaps a little tacky to try at a hotel like the one we are staying at. After a decent amount of searching and signing up for sites like "groupon" I have yet to find the great deals on shows, meals or hotels that people rumour to exist. Do hotel clerks really have the ability to offer complimentary upgrades? Do they have reduced price tickets or better yet free tickets - and how really do I go about getting these?

How to watch East Coast TV on the West Coast?

awesomedude — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 21:13:01 -0800

Is there a way to watch the major TV networks' East Coast feeds on the West Coast? I live in Los Angeles but I work a job that has me living on an East Coast schedule. (I wake up at 4:30 a.m. and go to sleep at 10 p.m.) Is there any easy, legal-ish way for me to watch major-network TV shows live at the times they premiere on the East Coast?

Help me choose a show to get tickets to for her birthday in August.

rbf1138 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 09:16:43 -0800

My girlfriend loves musicals. Help me choose a show to get tickets to for her birthday in August. I'm new to Atlanta, and I also don't know much about musicals. I'm in need of some help and suggestions on where and for what to get tickets. I'm open to any ideas those with knowledge of these things (musicals and Atlanta) may have. Thanks!

Help me save my sole

ChrisR — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 08:22:13 -0800

I need to find a pair of minimalist footwear (barefoot shoes? What are these things even called?) that will last out the summer. Unlike previous Ask Mefi questions on the subject of Vibram shoes, I'm looking for something a little bit more pedestrian; I don't run, I just walk; to work, to the store, to the bus. Right now, I'm wearing a pair of Vibram Fivefingers that I just flat out love. They're awesome. However, they wear out waaaaay too fast. I've had these for two months, and there's a hole in the sole near the outer edge of my right foot.

I want to find a pair of barefoot-style shoes that will provide me with both the comfort of being essentially barefoot and the durability to last me say 4-5 months instead of 2. I'm not asking for miracles, here, but if I can only replace these once a year instead of two that'd be fantastic.

For what it's worth, although I like the fivefingers style, I'm not wedded to the toe thing; it's the thinness of the sole that I want.

Why are old talk shows never reran on cable?

lankford — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 16:54:03 -0800

Why are "classic" daytime talk shows (like Donahue, Geraldo, Sally, etc.) virtually never reran on cable? I just wonder, if we have a channel that reruns game shows and many channels showing Everybody Loves Raymond, why hasn't someone picked up an old talk show? Talk shows usually did 200+ shows a year, times that by many years (Donahue did like 30 yrs), and you have a vast library. Donahue did lots of high-profile interviews (some on youtube), would be a shame for them not to see the light of day again.

Maybe it's that the shows are more dated/untopical and seemingly have low rerun value. Or the hosts won't sign the rights off. Or a legal issue that you have to get guest's permission to show them. Or in some cases, were the tapes destroyed/not preserved? Just thoughts.

I know they reran the David Letterman NBC shows somewhere. And USA showed a bunch of court show repeats way back.

Spoken of but never seen

tman99 — Thu, 26 May 2011 10:30:58 -0800

On the TV show Fraiser Niles' wife Maris is referred to often but never seen. What other show have a character(s) that the never seen? On M*A*S*H the characters refer to family members back home. So they would not count as they are not local to the shows primary location.

Unexpected alone time in Vegas -- get me out of doors!

pixiecrinkle — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:20:16 -0800

I'm ending up with two days on my own in Las Vegas. Any recommendations for outdoorsy things to do while I'm there? I waited a little long to book my flight for a conference I'm attending, and due to odd blackout dates for frequent flyer tickets, I'm opting for a longer stay in Las Vegas, rather than a full price ticket. As a result, I'm left with a day on either side of my conference all to myself. I'm in Vegas from roughly 6pm Wednesday 5/25 to 4pm Tuesday 5/31. The conference eats all my time from Thursday evening through Sunday evening, but outside that, my time is my own.

I've never been to Vegas before, but kind of expect to tire pretty quickly of the gambling scene. (I'll play a little poker, but don't want to end up wasting hours at the table.)

I'd like to spend at least one day out of the city and on a biking or hiking or kayaking tour in one of the surrounding areas, and I would like to hit up a show another night (probably Cirque du Soleil, but I'm open to options.)

So far I've found several Red Rock Canyon and Hoover Dam excursions on mountain bikes. Any recommendations for a company to book with? Will I have a hard time booking as a single person rather than a couple/family/group? Where are the best deals? And as an avid road cyclist/fit person, but one who isn't from the desert, am I crazy to consider this as a leisure activity?

Are there other activities I'm not thinking of that I should also consider?

Help me not miss the unmissible

slide — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 17:46:49 -0800

I'm going to Mexico City, Puebla and surrounding areas this week with some friends. I'll have a car for part of the trip. There are tons of great general tips and recs in old askme questions. What I'm interested in are the more ephemeral activites - any good shows, sporting events, other events, tours I need to book in advance, etc., coming up while I'm going to be there? (travel details inside). We get in on Wednesday, March 16 midday and will spend March 16-March 19 (Saturday) in Puebla and Tlaxcala and that general area and will have a car. March 20 (Sunday)-March 23 (Wednesday) we'll be in Mexico City and will not have a car.

Are there any great shows, concerts, etc. you'd recommend for those dates? I love smaller offbeat concerts, bands at bars, unique sporting events (we're doing Lucha Libre on Tuesday night in Mexico City I think), fun tours, etc. If there's a great bar/tavern with live music, that's great too. I realize this may be a bit too one-off to get a great response, but I figured it's worth a shot.

Separately, if there are good english-language event publications for Mexico City and/or the Puebla area you know of, I'd greatly appreciate you pointing me in the right direction. Thanks!

Quality TV Shows?

tessalations999 — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:35:27 -0800

Recommendations for good shows and/or podcasts for me? I do not like reality tv, sitcoms or cooker cutter serial dramas i.e. CSI. Some of my favorites include:

-The Wire
-Lost
-Madmen
-The Sopranos
-Fringe
-Buffy
-The Walking Dead

I haven't yet ventured into the video podcast world (except for TED), but am open to your suggestions.

Thank you!

Looking for quality British "reality" programming

nitsuj — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 06:02:23 -0800

Looking for quality British "reality" programming.... In the past I've enjoyed shows like Long Way Down/Around, Michael Palin's stuff, etc, and I'd like to find more British "reality" programming, past and present. I like travel and adventure -- so stuff like that is definitely what I'm looking for -- but I also like general human interest stories as well. The biggest criteria is that it is non-fiction. What do you recommend?

"I think I got half of it, which got me through the half I didn't." "Like the first season of The Wire."

pleasebekind — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:10:25 -0800

What are the pop culture references cited in Season 1 of the TV show Community? Additional related question: Can you recommend other TV shows similar to this (the humor, clever writing, pop culture references)?