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Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006category noun: TV programs + movies
I am looking for a noun for the category of things that includes TV programs and movies, but excludes plays, commercials, and home videos. Anyone have one? Sample usage: "I have fifteen FOOs in this list. I took out the commercials, since I don't really consider them FOOs." Johan Larson Johan Larson: > I am looking for a noun for the category of things that includes TV > programs and movies, but excludes plays, commercials, and home videos. > Anyone have one? I don't think there is such a word. > Sample usage: "I have fifteen FOOs in this list. I took out the > commercials, since I don't really consider them FOOs." I'd just use "movies and TV shows"; in the second place I'd say "shows". Note also that a TV "program" or "show" can mean a single episode or a whole series; you might use a more specific choice as appropriate, and the correct wording might be different in different countries (British "series" is approximately North American "season (of a series)").  SignatureMark Brader, Toronto "Ever wonder why they call the screen msb@vex.net a vacuum tube?" -- Kent Paul Dolan My text in this article is in the public domain. > "Ever wonder why they call the screen a vacuum tube?" -- Kent Paul > Dolan Because it's neither rare nor well done. SignaturePeter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org Please note the changed e-mail and web addresses. The domain eepjm.newcastle.edu.au no longer exists, and I can no longer receive mail at my newcastle.edu.au addresses. The optusnet address could disappear at any time. Peter Moylan <peter@ozebelgDieSpammers.org> wrote [...] >> "Ever wonder why they call the screen a vacuum tube?" >> -- Kent Paul Dolan > > Because it's neither rare nor well done. Nah. Because it sucks you in and sucks out your life. SignatureFranke: EFL teacher & medical editor Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan. Unmunged email: /at/easypeasy.com "Impatience is the mother of misery." <johan.larson@comcast.net> had it: > I am looking for a noun for the category of things that includes TV > programs and movies, but excludes plays, commercials, and home videos. > Anyone have one? Why are plays not programmes? SignatureDavid ===== > <johan.larson@comcast.net> had it: > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Why are plays not programmes? They're generally not made for TV but for the live theater. SignatureFranke: EFL teacher & medical editor Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan. Unmunged email: /at/easypeasy.com "Impatience is the mother of misery." dontbother <dontbother@mushmail.mom> had it: > > <johan.larson@comcast.net> had it: > > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > They're generally not made for TV but for the live theater. Not here in the UK. The BBC especially has a long history of making excellent studio- or location-based plays, and there are plays on Radios 3 and 4 every day. SignatureDavid ===== > dontbother <dontbother@mushmail.mom> had it: >> > <johan.larson@comcast.net> had it: [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > making excellent studio- or location-based plays, and there are > plays on Radios 3 and 4 every day. There have always been radio plays in the USA, but there is a distinction between the kind of drama that is written for the stage and for TV. The former are what many of the first movies, the silent films, were about: a camera taking a moving picture of a drama enacted on a stage. DW Griffiths, however, changed all that. In the 1950s, Hallmark Cards sponsored a number of stage productions broadcast live for TV. They were stage plays, not TV plays. TV plays are soap operas in the USA. The action there is all talk and pretty much in one room. Maybe things have changed in the 20 or so years since I used to see those things on TV (one can't help seeing them when flipping from channel to channel). I used to watch them about 50 years ago when I was a kid. I don't watch American TV now, but the last time I checked, there were no TV plays. Studio or location dramas don't sound like stage plays to me. Back in the 1950s, there was a live location cowboy shoot-em-up drama from someplace in Wyoming or Montana or Colorado. I think it was called "Action in the Afternoon". I'd call that a "live location drama" but not a TV play. In fact, I would not call anything not on a proper stage a "stage play", but I would call made-for-TV plays acted in studios or on location TV dramas or soap operas or whatever programs of the genre typified by "Friends", "Cheers", etc. are called. Those two are "situation comedies", right? Then the serious type logically ought to be called "situation dramas", but I can't remember whether they are. My understanding of what the OP meant by "plays" is comedies and dramas and musicals written for the live theater but filmed or vieotaped and then broadcast on TV. SignatureFranke: EFL teacher & medical editor Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan. Unmunged email: /at/easypeasy.com "Impatience is the mother of misery." dontbother <dontbother@mushmail.mom> had it: > > dontbother <dontbother@mushmail.mom> had it: > >> > <johan.larson@comcast.net> had it: [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > help seeing them when flipping from channel to channel). I used to > watch them about 50 years ago when I was a kid. We very definitely have TV plays here. We used to have a slot named "Play for Today" and there is a current slot named "Afternoon Play" - I think these are 45 minute dramas written specially for TV, and that they will probably never see the light of day anywhere else. That is, these are not stage pieces which have been filmed. > I don't watch American TV now, but the last time I checked, there > were no TV plays. Studio or location dramas don't sound like stage [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > dramas and musicals written for the live theater but filmed or > vieotaped and then broadcast on TV. Those are included in "plays" for me, but they are not the whole story. SignatureDavid ===== > dontbother <dontbother@mushmail.mom> had it: >> > dontbother <dontbother@mushmail.mom> had it: [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > light of day anywhere else. That is, these are not stage pieces > which have been filmed. This just triggered another memory of 1950s American TV: Play of the Week. These were generally famous stage plays produced for TV. They weren't sponsored by Hallmark Cards. They were all top-notch pieces, mostly drama. I don't think there are any TV plays on American TV anymore. Americans seem to be hooked on reality TV and lame comedies. I pleased to read that there is still a venue for theater, even if it is TV. >> I don't watch American TV now, but the last time I checked, >> there were no TV plays. Studio or location dramas don't sound [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > Those are included in "plays" for me, but they are not the whole > story. Apparently not. SignatureFranke: EFL teacher & medical editor Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan. Unmunged email: /at/easypeasy.com "Impatience is the mother of misery." dontbother <dontbother@mushmail.mom> had it: > I don't think there are any TV plays on American TV anymore. > Americans seem to be hooked on reality TV and lame comedies. I > pleased to read that there is still a venue for theater, even if it > is TV. Plenty of "real" venues in Manchester. We were at the theatre only last week. SignatureDavid ===== >dontbother <dontbother@mushmail.mom> had it: > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >Plenty of "real" venues in Manchester. We were at the theatre only >last week. Item of trivia: Theaters/Theatres can be dangerous places, as Abraham Lincoln might attest. A relative of his assassin, John Wilkes Booth, is currently appearing in a reality TV show in the Australian "Jungle". She, Lauren Booth, half-sister of Cherie Booth, Tony Blair's wife, and descended from JWB's grandfather, is showing no signs of doing fatal harm to anyone. But here's still time. "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!" http://celebrity.itv.com/ SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) Peter Duncanson <mail@peterduncanson.net> had it: > Item of trivia: > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!" > http://celebrity.itv.com/ Damn. I'd managed to get to today without having any idea who was taking part. I was only vaguely aware that it was running at the moment. SignatureDavid ===== > > dontbother <dontbother@mushmail.mom> had it: > >> > <johan.larson@comcast.net> had it: [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > dramas and musicals written for the live theater but filmed or > vieotaped and then broadcast on TV. Actually, for the purpose in which the matter came up, a play that was staged as a play, but recorded and either broadcast or sold on DVD would be included. A bit of context may be useful. I fly sailplanes. It's a very small hobby, with about 15 thousand participants in the US. As such, any mainstream exposure is very significant to us, since it pulls in people who otherwise may not have heard of us. I myself was inspired to investigate the hobby after seeing a brief gliding sequence in the movie "Wind". With this in mind, I started building a webpage listing occurrences of sailplanes in mainstream movies and TV. This rather quickly got into definitional issues of what I should include. For example, there is quite a lot of short home-movie footage of gliding floating around the net; should I include it? How about commercials? Music videos? Obscure DVDs that have never had mainstream distribution? Walking farther away, how about books? With this in mind, I settled on three criteria for inclusion. First, the piece had to be live-action video. Second, the piece had to be of significant length; no less than 30 minutes, possibly including expected commercials. Finally, the piece had to be made by pros for professional distribution, either by broadcast or sale. This feels like a fairly natural category for me. It consists of the "for-real" movies and TV shows. Unfortunately, there isn't a neat and tidy word for it. Johan Larson > dontbother wrote: >> > dontbother <dontbother@mushmail.mom> had it: [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > that was staged as a play, but recorded and either broadcast or > sold on DVD would be included. That fits what I said, which does not include the necessity of having actually been staged on Broadway, just staged as a play written for the live theater and then filmed or broadcast on TV. DVD and VCD (we still have them in Taiwan) require a TV or similar monitor for viewing. > A bit of context may be useful. I fly sailplanes. It's a very > small hobby, with about 15 thousand participants in the US. As [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > rather quickly got into definitional issues of what I should > include. That's the normal Humpty-Dumpty problem with terminology and its misuse. Without a stipulated definition before discussion, there is no communication. > For example, there is quite a lot of short home-movie > footage of gliding floating around the net; should I include it? [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > the "for-real" movies and TV shows. Unfortunately, there isn't a > neat and tidy word for it. Especially when the time threshold is a minimum of 30 minutes, which seems to contradict the phrase "occurrences of sailplanes in mainstream movies and TV" and call for the phrase "movies and TV programs that focus on sailplanes". SignatureFranke: EFL teacher & medical editor Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan. Unmunged email: /at/easypeasy.com "Impatience is the mother of misery." > dontbother <dontbother@mushmail.mom> had it: >>> Why are plays not programmes? >> They're generally not made for TV but for the live theater. > > Not here in the UK. The BBC especially has a long history of making > excellent studio- or location-based plays, and there are plays on > Radios 3 and 4 every day. ABC television in Australia is now celebrating its 50th anniversary, so we keep getting programmes that remind us of what TV used to be long ago. One detail that struck me was that they managed to average one live opera per two weeks. They don't have the budget to do that now. In fact, live productions of all kinds, apart from news and current affairs, are disappearing. This week I'll be watching the last ever episode of their one remaining live comedy show. It's being axed, I gather, because of a perceived political bias. Governments never like live comedy because it's so much easier to make fun of the government than of the opposition; the opposition never gets to put its stupidest ideas into practice. SignaturePeter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org Please note the changed e-mail and web addresses. The domain eepjm.newcastle.edu.au no longer exists, and I can no longer receive mail at my newcastle.edu.au addresses. The optusnet address could disappear at any time. |
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