Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

June 13, 2009

When  televised cop and medical dramas tackle video game themes, there's usually a large dollop of sensationalism attached.

That being the case, we'll be cautiously Tivoing Fox's June 16th episode of Mental. A preview describes the episode:

JACK TREATS A YOUNG BOY WHO IS CONSUMED WITH A VIDEO GAME THAT EXISTS ONLY IN HIS HEAD ON AN ALL-NEW “MENTAL” TUESDAY, JUNE 16, ON FOX

An 8-year-old bipolar boy whose life is consumed by a video game he plays in his head is admitted to Wharton Memorial for an accident involving a knife. When it turns out the accident was really a suicide attempt, Jack must try to get inside the little boy’s head to find out what is triggering his life-threatening rages. But when the boy bolts from the psych ward, Jack must try to save him by engaging him in his own mind game.

Here's a preview clip...

Comments

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Great, since we all know how crazy gamers are. (sarcasm)

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

If he had E.T. for the Atari in his head, I'd kill myself too.

J/K

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Funny story, I was helping my girlfriend clean out an old house her parents owned, and we found an atari and ET. 

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Oooo, an IMAGINARY game? Is that so they don't have to base what follows on any sort of fact, and also so they won't be able to get sued?

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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Wow, playing games in his mind? Must save him a fortune on game discs.


Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

He still pretends to use BitTorrent.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

This is the same as engaging anyone else's fantasy world, just the terminology of the world differs.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Yeah, I bet if they said he thinks he's living in a fantasy world, has a sort of HUD, or gets "goals" or "objectives" in his head, it would be far more acceptable than saying he's living a video game... even though that's pretty much what a video game usually is.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Tie-in with FOX and Friends the next day - "Video games turn children insane."

And then Glenn Beck will scream about all the violence depicted in the fictional kid's, fictional game.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Glenn doesn't scream anymore, he cries.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Well, that's because *sob* he just *choke* LOVES this country SO MUCH!  *sob*

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

 So what, it's an imaginary video game, in his mind? Could his parents not afford any real ones?

Either way it sounds more like the plots to a few anime than it does a plausible idea for a medical drama.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Exactly. Even the most serious anime are supposed to be taken with a grain of salt. Japanese and Otaku know this. However folks that watch 'serious' American prime time medical dramas are a bit of a different breed. The word hypochondriac comes to mind.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

If should be more fun if they include some reference of certain disbarred-crazy-lawyer. That would be better.

Jack: THEY WANT TO KILL ME.

The other Jack: Who, Jack, who want to kill you.

Jack: Videogames-- videogames--  videogames-- games --games (start singing Fantasy Vs. Reality clip)

The other Jack: You know, the hell with this. Even me can´t face this level of bullcrap. 

The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Hey, I know a person like that!


Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

I always wanted South Park to do a Thompson parody, but nobody except basically "us" know who he is. Until he gets more world renowned we're left with OUR imaginations.

You hear that, Jacky? You have to step your game up if you want to be prime time parody material.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Mental has about as much to do with real mental illness and treatment as Starsky and Hutch did with police work. Plus, it's a terrible, terrible show. I wouldn't bother.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

the dumbasses at FOX don't understand that if it's not on a video screen it's not a videogame. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised, seeing how it's FOX.

岩「…Where do masochists go when they die?」

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Did you watch the clip? The kid isn't playing it with his eyes closed. He's clearly imagining a screen present.

Also, Fox Entertainment has almost nothing to do with Fox News division. Entirely different people.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Fox is Fox.

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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

...a video game he plays in his head...

On Earth we call that "imagination."

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

You guys realize that Mental is a fictional show. They take various illnesses and exaggerates them to make a show out of it. It's a very odd show and nothing to take seriously.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

But we have to take it too seriously! That's what interest groups do!


Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Tell that to those who take CSI too seriously.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Don't forget House.

Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

(Moved to where it was supposed to go -- I hate these comment sections :/ ('cause of the apparent difficulty I have using them <.<))

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Mental looks like it will last two seasons at most. It's Fox's inconsistency with their prime-time shows that led me to miss most of 24. Remember this was about the time when Firefly and Futurama were yanked from their lineup.

When 24 first came out I thought "Cool....another Fox series I can get into. Nah, better not to watch it and spare myself the disappointment because Fox cancels all good action shows now." 6 seasons later....DAMMIT!

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Seen Season 1 and you've seen Seasons 2-6.

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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

It sounds less like a shot at violent video games, and more like a tribute to the one 70s or 80s hospital show that's ending showed it occured only in a boy with autism's head.

The addition of 'video' as an adjective to 'games' sounds like a mistake on the preview author's part. Of course, I don't watch the show so I'm only guessing. Most of the major network's primary channel's programming is just boring as watching paint dry. Big bang theory's gotten there too. I mean, what do they expect? "YAYFEARMONGERINGLOL, YAYINNUENDOLOL, YAYREALITYSHOWLOL".

Down with TV, up with the Internet.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Oh great, this going to be like the law and order episode where the crooks some how hid an excel speadsheet on a Prince of Persia disc that could only be accessed by beating the 10th level.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

You mean the 1984 bomb "Cloak & Dagger"?

 

I'm Charlie Owens, good night, and good luck.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

This doesn't really have anything to do with video games, the way its being presented its all about the crazy and not about the games.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

I have my own imaginary Videogames, but I don't really tell people about them.

 

I play my imaginary videogames when I am also playing my REAL Videogames.

The secret is that I play a game, then I 'IMAGINE' what is really happening behind those scenes.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Meh House is better.

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

Wonder what game he's playing in his head?  Super Mario Bros?

Damnit, now I got the theme song stuck in my head!!!

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

I'm impressed with the sanity present in these comments so far. Not too many people going crazy rage on the show (I'm watching you Kincyr). From what I hear it's not a very good show, could be funny though.

What are the bets that there will be some crazy ass parents who take this seriously and burn all their child's games and then are hospitalized for accidentally inhaling the fumes?

Re: Tivo Alert: Fox's Mental Series Tackles Gaming... Uh-oh.

How crazy video gamers are? bad credit payday loans

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
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