So I am in the middle of an argument on another chat board...

[WCGreen]

I need some help.

Which network produces the worst movies on the cables.

I say it is the Sci Fi original movie and others are saying The Lifetime Channel has by far the worst made for the network movies.

In any case, one has to wonder if they make these movies to be bad or does the crew actually think they are shooting for an Oscar...

i guess it beats waiting tables and working as a dog walker.

[seabeyond]

1. omg... you found another lounge? somewhere else? lmao.

i thought real battle here. meh. cant help you. i do not watch tv.

[frogmarch]

2. I'd say it depends on

whether you prefer movies about mutant/alien bacteria running amok or teenage child/husband running amok.

[sarge43]

7. You mean they're not the same thing?!

[frogmarch]

10. lol

I know whatcha mean.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Well, I can't help you either!

I suspect the crews on those movies are just glad to be getting work and being paid...

Maybe they're like the poor Republicans? You know, hoping one day to be among the 1%...

Willing to be abused so they can earn their stripes.

[Chan790]

30. Guild card and experience.

They're very low-budget productions but they're union sets. They can't get current guild members to take the jobs (they pay guild wage minimum) so they go open-post (open to non-guild applicants) who use them to earn a guild card, build resume experience and network inside the industry.

I know a great many people working in NYC on film sets that started out that way. Alternately, it's a way to promote...say you're a KPA (Key Production Assistant, basically the lead general-laborer...PAs are used to fetch things and do menial work like stand on the street corner in the rain holding a "please do not look at the camera" sign for minimum wage for 16 hours. The KPA is the supervisor and task-master.) but you want to be a 2AD (2nd Assistant Director. That's the next step up, the personal assistant to the 1AD (A 1AD is the guy who actually runs the set, freeing the director to worry about what's happening in front of the lens.) and in-charge of the Keys (KPA, Key Grip, Key Gaffer, Electrician Lead, etc.))...problem is that it's a hard jump to make...so you take 2AD openings for less than usual KPA pay so you can build experience in that role.

[EastTennesseeDem]

4. Both of them are horrid.

I think SciFi has the slight edge. Meaning it's worse.

[Turbineguy]

5. TBN and CBN. Hands down.

The worst.

[WCGreen]

6. Yea, those bible based morality movies are in a whole other category of bad...

[graywarrior]

8. The only thing good about Lifetime is Dance Moms

The violence is awesome on that show.

[RebelOne]

9. I have been watching Sci-Fi channel off and on today

and some of those movies are pretty ridiculous.

[MicaelS]

11. I vote for SYFY...

They have the worst original movies, by far.

[madinmaryland]

12. I prefer bread crumbs rather than corn flakes for my fried chicken!!

[okieinpain]

13. I would love to make a living

making movies. Oscar caliber or not.

[WCGreen]

16. here Here....

[Chan790]

31. If you're youngish and in good health...you can be a PA.

The Production Assistant's job mostly consists of fetch. Fetch this, fetch that, don't step on anything important because you'll be fired on the spot; you're about as valuable as some day-laborer hired outside Home Depot. Hours are long, pay is minimum (take home is great though b/c minimum wage for 90 hours/week adds up)...it's an "earning your stripes" sort of job. Having been one, I'd say it was most similar to being a fraternity pledge. People yell at you for no reason and you're made to do ridiculous tasks with no explanation. There are no benefits. Do that exceptionally-well for 3-7 years and you might not be a PA for life. Your state probably has a film office that keeps a list of shooting sets and a joblist. There are no qualifications to be a entry-level PA, just the willingness to be treated worse than chattel.

If you have a trade-skill (ie. carpentry, tailor or electric) that's a much better way in. Alternately, move to NYC, get a crappy real job for 6-12months while you study at School of Creative Arts, NYU Film School, or take classes at 3rd Ward in something like sound-editing or cinematography.

[Honeycombe8]

14. I'm not familiar with movies they make themselves, except Lifetime made one great movie....

It's called "Ebbie," starring Susan Lucci. It's a modern female version of A Christmas Carol. She is Ebbie Scrooge. I know it sounds horrid, but it's not. I recorded it and watch it every Christmas. It still comes on on Lifetime at Christmas, but only once or twice, so I rarely am able to catch it. That's why I recorded it.

But their other original movies are so-so.

I don't know about the Sci-Fi network's movies.

[Honeycombe8]

15. Hallmark has to be the worst. With a few exceptions. nt

[sarge43]

17. I'd say SciFi because of the greater falling off.

Lifetime never tried to be anything other than soap opera 24/7. Once SciFi produced or at least sponsored quality or at minimum watchable movies, Dune and Battlestar Galatica come to mind.

[TreasonousBastard]

18. When the point is to fill dead air as cheaply as possible without...

a talk, game, or reality show, who cares which is worse...

Besides, this would be (oh the horror!) gender specific, would it not? As a guy, I am usually bored to death with the lifetime stuff (even the hookers are boring) but find the idiotic monsters on syfy mildly amusing, particularly if stoned. I suspect women would generally not agree (unless maybe stoned).

[WCGreen]

32. The stoning thing goes a longway....

[Avalux]

19. It's Syfy now...reason alone to pick that channel.

The concept was great, they started out well, then slipped into ridiculous CGI garbage and lameness.

With Lifetime, the bar has always been low.

[Phentex]

21. Yes, I like to call it Siffy now.

I also hate HLN because it's really two words and not three.

[PassingFair]

20. Three words. THE CLIENT LIST

Lifetime wins BY A MILE!

[Chan790]

34. The Client List provides opportunities to see JLH in skimpy clothes.

That said, for a show about prostitution...she doesn't seem to be doing much prostituting. I've watched two episodes and I'm yet to see her character have sex on-or-off-screen, implied or shown.

[PassingFair]

35. You need to watch the full-length movie...then read the "Fug Girls" review.

Kindly provided by myself, below:


http://gofugyourself.com/fug_the_fromage_the_client_list_080310-08-2010

[Phentex]

22. Lifetime has good stories but the endings are horrible...

It's like they run out of time and end up with a completely stupid ending that makes the whole thing not worth watching. Yet, if I see ten minutes, I'm hooked.

I just watched The Town (with Ben Affleck) last night and it was really a Lifetime movie with more shooting and more swearing.

[HappyMe]

23. Lifetime, Hallmark, Syfy.

Pretty much in that order. At least you can get a good laugh out of the Syfy crap.

[OriginalGeek]

24. SyFy is the worst

Because I want to like them sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo badly.

Science Fiction SHOULD be the most awesomest movies on TV but SyFy makes such terrible movies that it makes me want to just read romance novels.

And they aren't even good enough to be "so bad they're funny". They are just bad.




Kinda makes teenage hooker alcoholic nuns look promising.

[csziggy]

26. Made for SyFy movies are so bad they make "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes"

Look awesome.

I do have to say that many of the SyFy movies have great titles. That could be because a few years back they had a contest for the best titles for movies. No plots, just titles.

Dinocroc
Dinocroc vs. Supergator
Dinoshark
Frankenfish
Piranhaconda
Sharktopus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Syfy_original_films

[OriginalGeek]

27. I know right?!

It's simply cruel to make a person anxiously await 8:00 eastern Standard Time for Sharktopus and then put THAT dreck on.

It's the old shark bait and switch I tell ya.

[csziggy]

28. Wouldn't that be "chum and switch"?

[OriginalGeek]

29. Absolutely!

Chumtimes i miss the obvious...

[Iggo]

25. Chiller's worse than siffy.

Bad.

So bad.

(EDIT: I don't know if Chiller's movies are original. They just suck.)

[Yavin4]

33. So, You're Cheating on DU with another Message Board

Tut, tut, tut.

[WCGreen]

36. Please don't tell anyone....

[CaliforniaPeggy]

37. Your secret is safe...;)