“Awesome” is so over-used, it’s become meaningless. When everything is awesome, nothing is awesome. (Give it a generation or so…it’ll be back to its original meaning. Maybe.)
I really don’t get this one. I can see too many possible readings, but none that stands out as likely. Is it that Baldo prefers bad TV so that he can mock it? Does he prefer TV that’s unengaging, so he can veg out? Or is it, as some have suggested, a comment on the overuse (and dilution thereby) of the word “awesome”?
To tell the truth, I really didn’t get yesterday’s strip, either. Can anyone tell if they make more sense in Spanish?
@fritzoid, the way I’m reading it, all the commercials and teasers for the TV shows are calling each show “awesome”, so… if according to the over-loud commercials EVERY show is “awesome”, by extension, none of them is (because if they are all equally awesome, they are also equally awful).
kkfn, that reasoning would make sense to me if “awesome” were in quotes: Every single show is “Awesome”… Even then, Baldo’s line in panel 3 is kind of a non-sequitur: if the descriptor “awesome” is over-applied to the point of meaninglessness, it doesn’t follow that everything described as “awesome” is unfit for viewing.
I’m not convinced you’re wrong, though. It’s just that, usually when a comic doesn’t make sense to me, somebody’s comment or explanation will trigger an “Aha!” moment for me, so that I “get it”; so far, that hasn’t happened with this one.
Besides, is “awesome” an adjective that is commonly (let alone ubiquitously) USED to promote TV shows? Soft drinks, yes. The power of the new BMW Luxury Sedan, yes. Snowboarding vacations, yes. The new Medical Examiner drama, no. My understanding, though, is that it IS a word commonly used by teenage boys. So it seems unlikely that Baldo is quoting the TV’s judgment upon its own offerings. It still seems to me that Baldo himself believes that the TV shows are in fact “awesome”, yet somehow that makes them not worth watching.
Baldo has not, in the past, been shown to have exacting standards when it comes to his entertainment choices. Often, when we see him watching TV, his posture and expression indicate total passivity, a willingness to watch ANYTHING so long as he doesn’t have to think about it too hard.
cdward almost 14 years ago
Doesn’t make sense to me, either, but maybe he can start thinking of video games as being the same kind of awesome.
peter0423 almost 14 years ago
“Awesome” is so over-used, it’s become meaningless. When everything is awesome, nothing is awesome. (Give it a generation or so…it’ll be back to its original meaning. Maybe.)
jkoskov almost 14 years ago
I see that mediocre is the new Awesome.
Potrzebie almost 14 years ago
TV overload. I know. I’m trying to see all the 2nd series of Being Human and still trying to watch V, smallville, American Dad, Simpsons, etc.
WaitingMan almost 14 years ago
The Miz is Awesome! Everything else on TV, not so much.
fritzoid Premium Member almost 14 years ago
I really don’t get this one. I can see too many possible readings, but none that stands out as likely. Is it that Baldo prefers bad TV so that he can mock it? Does he prefer TV that’s unengaging, so he can veg out? Or is it, as some have suggested, a comment on the overuse (and dilution thereby) of the word “awesome”?
To tell the truth, I really didn’t get yesterday’s strip, either. Can anyone tell if they make more sense in Spanish?
kkfin almost 14 years ago
@fritzoid, the way I’m reading it, all the commercials and teasers for the TV shows are calling each show “awesome”, so… if according to the over-loud commercials EVERY show is “awesome”, by extension, none of them is (because if they are all equally awesome, they are also equally awful).
redkimba almost 14 years ago
ok ; I give up - what channel is he watching?
fritzoid Premium Member almost 14 years ago
kkfn, that reasoning would make sense to me if “awesome” were in quotes: Every single show is “Awesome”… Even then, Baldo’s line in panel 3 is kind of a non-sequitur: if the descriptor “awesome” is over-applied to the point of meaninglessness, it doesn’t follow that everything described as “awesome” is unfit for viewing.
I’m not convinced you’re wrong, though. It’s just that, usually when a comic doesn’t make sense to me, somebody’s comment or explanation will trigger an “Aha!” moment for me, so that I “get it”; so far, that hasn’t happened with this one.
Coyoty Premium Member almost 14 years ago
Maybe he wants to be a TV executive. They think awesome shows aren’t worth anything and don’t make any money.
fritzoid Premium Member almost 14 years ago
Besides, is “awesome” an adjective that is commonly (let alone ubiquitously) USED to promote TV shows? Soft drinks, yes. The power of the new BMW Luxury Sedan, yes. Snowboarding vacations, yes. The new Medical Examiner drama, no. My understanding, though, is that it IS a word commonly used by teenage boys. So it seems unlikely that Baldo is quoting the TV’s judgment upon its own offerings. It still seems to me that Baldo himself believes that the TV shows are in fact “awesome”, yet somehow that makes them not worth watching.
Baldo has not, in the past, been shown to have exacting standards when it comes to his entertainment choices. Often, when we see him watching TV, his posture and expression indicate total passivity, a willingness to watch ANYTHING so long as he doesn’t have to think about it too hard.
fritzoid Premium Member almost 14 years ago
The Spanish language version is:
“Todos los programas son iguales de buenos… Ya no hay nada mejor que ver.”
My paltry Spanish isn’t good enough to clear this up, but machine translations suggest something along the lines of:
“All the shows are equally good… So I have nothing better to do.” (?)
natashalee almost 14 years ago
“All the shows are equally good… So there is nothing better to see.”