The vast majority of Japanese TV is rubbish too! Just because we're selective and don't have to sit through the dribble to download doesn't mean its a better range of television. The quality stuff remains about the same, and is perhaps just as niche.
Illness in TV?
Walter White in Breaking Bad. Cancer.
Piney on Sons of Anarchy. Some sort of breathing problem.
Abed/Sheldon/Brennan on Community, Big Bang Theory, Bones. Asperger's. Parenthood has that too.
All forms of mental illness in The Sopranos.
Same for Grey's Anatomy.
Lorraine Saracen in Friday Night Lights has dementia.
Most shows cost around $1 - 3 million to produce really. Charlie Sheen et al get more because their shows are huge and they specifically rely on them people. They are the exceptions. I don't know why budget comes into it anyway.
Product Placement is only on some shows. The Sopranos used it for realism, and in general, most shows simply don't have it. The exceptions to the rule are the one struggling to survive on the broadcast nets, and if that means there is a Verizon sticker on top of the phone, I can deal.
Historical inaccuracy is different. Nobody is claiming The Tudors, Borgias, Spartacus or even Rome have any semblance of being true-fact of the time. They are period soap operas for the most part and yet, it doesn't take away the fact it makes for interesting and compelling television (sometimes...). I don't understand why things need to be so by-the-numbers -- if you want education, go read a non-fiction book. This is entertainment. The attractiveness thing is a weird comment to make, cos there are some generally fairly unattractive people in TV by some standards whereas everything is drawn in the latter and is only "ugly" when intentional (Oda plays with that, for instance).
None of these reasons are really
saying anything. It's all stretching. You may have forgotten, but its the writing that makes these stories great. The camaraderie that exists between the guys in Sons of Anarchy; the inspired and beautiful relationship of the married Taylor's in middle America in Friday Night Lights; the pain and angst of growing up and becoming an adult in Buffy the Vampire Slayer; the slow destruction of the perfect '60s man in Mad Men as the times begin the change.
These shows, the ones that aren't watched by 20 million people each week, are the ones doing the real work. The ones that make people turn their heads, and dissect and analyse and talk about.
Scripted and unscripted cannot be compared.
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cough*
I've floated around both communities for so long now. TV fans aren't dismissive of anime, so why are anime fans dismissive of TV? Weird. Would have thought both groups just wanted something to entertain them and hopefully make them think.