Marathon This TV Show

[Rellik San]

Ah so I see Anime fans are the acceptable cultural punching bag of the so called and much maligned "SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR"!
(Although this from a guy who can be found at the first escapist expo saying of JRPG heroes: "At least they are something different." so make of his comment what you will.)

As for other shows to marathon, this one with a particularly British bent:

Grange Hill, The Queens Nose, An entire channel showing nothing but Eastenders or Coronation Street from the beginning, to see how far we've come dramatically from "Ey'up put kettle on love." "Oh Ken, we're out of Tea Bags." to "RICKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" But that said of course, other than Doctor Who and Sherlock we all know British Popular Culture doesn't exist on the internet: AMIRITE?

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I do like how Bob's snip at the end has already been proven in this thread.

 

[Dragonheart57]

One thing that makes anime more suited to mega-marathons than many shows is that many anime are actually self-contained sagas running for a set number of episodes, and as such they actually have beginnings, middles and ends, rather than getting stretched out endlessly past their expiration dates.

The funny thing is, the popular ones often do get stretched out endlessly past their expiration date. The best ones usually end after one or two seasons though.

 

[Kingjackl]

This is clearly intended for American audiences (I can't see this sort of thing happening on Aussie TV), but I reckon a marathon of Seinfeld would be cool. It's as good a chance as any for people who haven't seen it to find out what all the fuss is about, since it has been a few years.

A Breaking Bad marathon would be pretty sick now that the show's over. That series is infamous for people binge-watching it the first time they discover it.

Finally, just my personal preference, but I'd say Red Dwarf is long enough now that you could get a decent marathon out of it. The Back to Earth specials need not apply.

 

[mojopin87]

In terms of sci-fi, Babylon 5, as others have said, is ideally suited to marathon watching since it is more focused on large story and character arcs rather than the largely episodic structure of Star Trek. On a related note it saddens me that it seems they will never be able to release it in HD/remaster the incredibly dated CG.

 

[Vault101]

This is clearly intended for American audiences (I can't see this sort of thing happening on Aussie TV), but I reckon a marathon of Seinfeld would be cool. It's as good a chance as any for people who haven't seen it to find out what all the fuss is about, since it has been a few years.
.

since about 2004 ABC Reran Dr who AT LEAST until 2006 (that's where I watched a lot of it)

11 has been playing episodes of Seinfeld along with happy days, futurama, simpsons and even beverly hills 90210

thease things happen

Ah so I see Anime fans are the acceptable cultural punching bag of the so called and much maligned "SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR"!
?

oh for f-

please don't

 

[hentropy]

Oh come on Bob, I never thought you actually gave a shit about comments in the first place. For shame.

Anyway, the biggest problem with Simpsons-style marathon for anime would simply be that no one could actually watch it all without becoming dangerously sleep deprived, and unlike The Simpsons which is episodic and only has loose connectivity between episodes, missing even a few hours of an anime would leave one a bit lost, unless they just didn't care because they know the story anyway.

 

[pearcinator]

Futurama > The Simpsons

 

[putowtin]

Finally, just my personal preference, but I'd say Red Dwarf is long enough now that you could get a decent marathon out of it. The Back to Earth specials need not apply.

The Back to Earth specials didn't happen... it's never been proven!

OT, well I'd go Supernatural, but as by the end of this season we'll have 218 episodes that's a hell of a long marathon (About six and a half days)

 

[Chris Ingersoll]

Does it have to be a fictional series?

Discovery Science just ran every Mythbusters in order in the space between Christmas and New Year's, which was awesome for someone who had most of that span off from work and needed background noise that wasn't horrid.

 

[bdcjacko]

MASH is awful. My parents already watch it non-stop.

Also in general, I don't really care if a TV station is marathoning something. I will marathon it myself.

 

[Dak_N_Jaxter]

*Title Banner*
Ah, Paul McGann. The Eighth Doctor
I'd love to see a marathon of his episodes... yep, sure would be nice... all two of them :'(

 

[mrdude2010]

Archer would be nice.

I feel like anyone saying Dr. Who should have their head examined.

 

[McMarbles]

Dr. is kind of hard. Don't a lot of the Hartnell episode simply... not exist anymore?

And I'd like to see the entire Timm-Dini DCAU marathoned. Heck, throw in Young Justice. I consider it honorary DCAU.

 

[Dunesen]

'List does not include [a]nime [because Bob does not watch anime and as is well-established his entire understanding of popular culture begins with his experiences and tastes as the baseline of 'normal' or 'default,' hence his devoting an entire month to the career of Kevin Smith and the alleged 'betrayal' of a man who made a movie about mostly ambitionless pop culture junkies talking about Star Wars turning out to be a mostly ambitionless pop culture junkie talking about Batman, his ongoing pronouncement that Mario is the face of gaming in a world where the Halo and Call of Duty franchises exist, and the thesis of this column that the Simpsons marathon was some sort of red letter day for television when really, who outside of his personal circle was talking about a TV marathon in the age of Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services that have rendered the concept of 'appointment television' moot for an entire generation?].' <-- Fixed it for you.

 

[Dunesen]

Don't think anyone else mentioned this, so I'll throw it in: a major problem for a Doctor Who marathon is that the shows made in the classic series (1963-89) were designed as multi-episode serials, so an attempt to bulk watch even just a fraction would be a series of highs and lows as, more often than not, the first and last episode of each serial would be interesting (a new environment and new characters to meet in the first, final climax and resolution in the last) but the middle parts could either drag or feature contrived obstacles for the characters for the sake of padding the story out to what was considered 'full' length at the time.

Repeat the rising and falling interest over several hours and you'll just wear out your audience, much of whom will be conditioned by modern television for hour-long stories that resolve themselves at the end, rather than four or six episode serials.

 

[Rellik San]

Ah so I see Anime fans are the acceptable cultural punching bag of the so called and much maligned "SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR"!
?

oh for f-

please don't

If you add in the bracketed part where I point out in the past Bob has defended anime content. It's not nearly as inflamatory as it seems, more just gently poking the bear to see what happens and running away tittering when it grumbles.

Come on Vault101 join me in some light bear baiting. It'll be a giggle m8.

 

[Fox12]

Oh, I love bob.

Bashes Otaku anime fans for no apparent reason.

Proceeds to gush over men in their underwear who fight crime, and harolds the comic book era as some sort of pop culture golden age, even though anime and comics share many of the same shortcomings.

Glass houses, Bob. Glass houses.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

If we're just talking about any show, not just super-long-runners, the Hub did a mega-marathon of all four seasons of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic plus three of their mid-2000s movies back in August, and apparently it drew the highest ratings the channel ever had [http://mlp.derpynews.com/ratings-report-mlp-mega-mareathon/]. Given that it's bound to remain the only daytime show that gets decent ratings, those marathons will probably become an annual event.

 

[RaikuFA]

Oh, I love bob.

Bashes Otaku anime fans for no apparent reason.

Proceeds to gush over men in their underwear who fight crime, and harolds the comic book era as some sort of pop culture golden age, even though anime and comics share many of the same shortcomings.

Glass houses, Bob. Glass houses.

Exactly if it was just "haven't seen enough anime to see what could be marathoned" there'd be no problem. Or he could have not said anything.