Fall TV lineup

[LifeinAsia]

Twenty years after graduating, Harry returns to Hogwarts to teach. "Welcome Back, Potter" airs Mondays at 9:00 on ABC.

[Old_Honky]

I have never read any of the books or seen anything other than a trailer of the films and have no wish to. The TV series sounds excrutiating.

To me the popular acclaim that the Harry Potter franchise has is a major reason to avoid it. When virtually everyone likes something it is usually crass, lowest-common-denominator rubbish. I have anything written by Terry Pratchett mentally filed in the same "to be avoided" category for similar reasons.

[StoutFiles]

I have never read any of the books or seen anything other than a trailer of the films and have no wish to. The TV series sounds excrutiating.

He made a Welcome Back, Kotter joke. Trust me, if there's ever a Potter show the internet will explode with the news.

To me the popular acclaim that the Harry Potter franchise has is a major reason to avoid it. When virtually everyone likes something it is usually crass, lowest-common-denominator rubbish. I have anything written by Terry Pratchett mentally filed in the same "to be avoided" category for similar reasons.

Wizard of Oz is rubbish? The original Star Wars trilogy is rubbish? Fantasy stories can still be good stories and influential to culture. At least read/watch HP before you judge it. You sound like the old guy sitting on the porch yelling at kids for enjoying things and always saying "In my day..."

[piatkow]

The first Potter book was a pretty good story for its target market, a pity that Rowling then proceeded to vanish up her own ***** with the rest of the series.

[graeme_p]

Old_Honky, some Harry Potter is pretty good, and most Pratchett is good.

Good books can be popular. Dickens was very popular in his time.

[piatkow]

Dickens was very popular in his time.

In fact as popular as Rowling or Pratchett. Lowest common denominator rubbish?

[Old_Honky]

He made a Welcome Back, Kotter joke.

I have no idea what that means, must be an American thing.

I don't think an awful lot of Dickens either, if he were alive today he'd be a little known hack writing for the soaps.

I have attempted to read Pratchett's stuff on several occasions because my son thinks he is wonderful and at one time tried to convert me. I never finished a book, I found it to be predictable and the humour to be strained. In fact it was nearly as boring as reading Tolkien. However I do enjoy good fantasy and would place the late Phillip Jose Farmer's works at the pinnacle of that genre. I am particularly fond of the Riverworld series (but not the awful TV Movies they made which was supposedly based on it)

You sound like the old guy sitting on the porch yelling at kids for enjoying things and always saying "In my day..."

Now you are generalising nearly as badly as I do. I don't believe in pretending to like things just so people will think I'm not such an old fart.

[lawman]

>>I don't believe in pretending to like things just so people will think I'm not such an old fart.

You're safe. ;)

[StoutFiles]

Now you are generalising nearly as badly as I do. I don't believe in pretending to like things just so people will think I'm not such an old fart.

I never said you should pretend, you just never gave it a chance. Hating something immediately without knowing anything about the subject you hate is something "the old guy on the porch" would do.

For example, I hate Twilight, but I also did some research on the overall plot of the books and the characters themselves.

[Old_Honky]

Hating something immediately without knowing anything about the subject you hate

I agree when you are talking about fairly important things (in my teens I read the bible all the way through and ever since I have been an atheist), but Harry Potter? I don't want the bother of reading all those books to prove to myself that I don't like it. Give me a break, I've seen half an hour of one of the films a few Christmases ago when I was too inebriated to get up and find the remote, and I've seen several trailers for various films. I've also seen several interviews with the author on TV (altogether to smug)so I don't think I'm being irrational. By the way I don't hate it, that's far too strong an emotion for me. I just don't enjoy it and avoid it whenever I can.

I agree with you about Twilight, give me Buffy the Vampire Slayer any day.