History Quotes / LowestCommonDenominator

->''"[[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible Am I not smart enough for this?]] Is this some kind of experimental avante-garde thing that's just going way over my head? Because unless someone makes an argument, I'm just going to assume that I'm not ''dumb'' enough for this; that I've just got too much going on in my head; that ''[[BrainBleach I can't absorb something this awful.]]''"''

'''Nostalgia Critic:''' But, [[Creator/DrSeuss Seuss]] got popular because he wrote what ''he'' wanted to see. Not what focus groups wanted to see! Have you ever considered that ''maybe'' people don't know what's best for them? And by continually giving them the same crap, they'll never know what's different, so they'll just keep ''asking'' for the same crap?

-->-- ''WebVideo/RedLetterMedia'' on ''{{Film/Titanic 1997}}''

-->--'''Blog/{{Froghand}}''', from the [[https://froghand.neocities.org/buafy/2016-10.html#05 2016-10-05 BUAFY]].

-->--'''John K.''', [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2009/10/are-cartoonists-valued-in-cartoon.html "Are Cartoonists Valued In The Cartoon Business?"]]

->''"There's no satisfaction to anything because there's no wonder about what will take place. It's all just paint-by-numbers. I can't deal with this, ''but'' at the same time, part of me has to recognize that we're just not really part of the target demographic, and that a lot of people really love this. And if the objective of the movie is just making something that a lot of people want to watch, then in many ways, they've succeeded, right?''

->"I would like to voice my strong concern about this show's spiraling decline in ratings. David, ever since you took us to the Caribbean, it's been Jamaica homeless people sucking soup, and a big wave outside that cost a hundred thousand dollars. That's depressing and it's expensive, two words I hate. You know the words I like? I like the word 'peppy' and the word 'cheap.' Peppy and cheap."

->"Our purpose is to amuse, simply to amuse. Nothing serious, nothing political."

->"As some illustrious person once said, popularity is the hallmark of mediocrity."

->"Hey, I've said a million times: {{Wrestling/TNA}} still being alive today really makes me feel better about my own future. Right? I mean, there's an audience for '''anything''', clearly. This could be the worst show of all time, and there would still be people that subscribe. That makes me feel good.\\\

And TNA has, uh... brought me some peace of mind".

->"Listen, I've spent my whole life defending movies that people tell me are evil, and they're not. I get told horror movies are bad for you and action movies are bad for you and erotic thrillers are bad for you. No. ''Little Man'' is bad for ''the world''."

->"It is the present, and I find myself sitting in an office. At first, I think that [[OhWaitThisIsMyGroceryList somebody is making a shopping list]]. But then, I realize that I am in the production office of ''That's Life!'' The liver and kidneys referred to are this week's star organ transplant. And as for the vegetables... they are this week's audience."

->"So the first thing we do when we set out to slop together a drab, tick-the-boxes, committee-designed, work-the-name-recognition-'til-its-organs-of-generation-dry-up-and-blow-away-like-dandelion-seeds reboot is to isolate everything that gave the original its unique appeal, edge, and soul, put on our big boots and stamp and stamp and stamp, until it can be posted through the letterbox of an ungrateful majority audience who'd be afraid of their own farts if they sounded one demitone higher than usual."
-->--'''''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''''' on ''VideoGame/{{Thief|2014}}'' (2014)

-->--'''''{{Website/Cracked}}''''', [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-behind-the-scenes-features-that-show-why-movies-went-wrong_p2/ 5 Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes That Show How Movies Went Wrong]]

-->--'''''Blog/ToplessRobot''''', [[http://www.toplessrobot.com/2014/01/8_low_points_for_nerds_in_2013.php?page=2 2013's "Worst Moments in Nerdery"]]

-->--John K., [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2009/10/are-cartoonists-valued-in-cartoon.html "Are Cartoonists Valued In The Cartoon Business?"]]

-->--'''''[[http://jezebel.com/britney-spears-delusional-documentary-is-a-hot-glit-1491497710 Jezebel]]''''', "Music/BritneySpears' Delusional 'Documentary' is a Hot, Glittery Mess"

->"Vince Russo is a deer caught in the headlines as long as there's a wrestling match going. As long as he can make it [[SerialNumbersFiledOff a phony B-movie script]], or [[GimmickMatches an outhouse in the ring]], or [[WorkedShoot woman having miscarriages]]--so get the ''wrestling matches'' outta there, 'cause nobody wants to see that shit anyway."

->"[[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible Am I not smart enough for this?]] Is this some kind of experimental avante-garde thing that's just going way over my head? Because unless someone makes an argument, I'm just going to assume that I'm not ''dumb'' enough for this; that I've just got too much going on in my head; that ''[[BrainBleach I can't absorb something this awful.]]''"

->"It's like being dead for 90 minutes, except you get to eat popcorn."

->"Y'see, the average human IQ is 100, so if you want your film to make money, you've gotta aim for '[[SoOkayItsAverage average]].' Just look at the top box office films of all time, and then consider suicide. It's the reason a high-quality film like ''{{Film/Hugo}}'' earned nearly ten times less than a movie like ''{{WesternAnimation/Shrek 2}}.''"
-->-- '''''WebVideo/RedLetterMedia''''' on ''{{Film/Titanic 1997}}''

->''The more your musical experience, the easier it is to define for yourself what you like and what you don't like. American radio listeners, raised on a diet of _____ fill in the blank), have experienced a musical universe so small they cannot begin to know what they like.''

->''In the old dramas it was [[LovedINotHonorMore love that had to be sacrificed to painful duty. In the modern instance the sacrifice is at the shrine of what William James called "the Bitch Goddess, Success." Love is to be abandoned for the stern pursuit of newspaper notoriety and dollars.''

>''In ''Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time'', Creator/PattonOswalt has a bit where he talks about what it really means to be successful as a comedian. He tells a story about being paid to do his act in front of a crowd so drunk that his mere presence is enough to earn a standing ovation, and how he received the offer to do that set (no new jokes, no material at all -- just free money) forever, and how now he has to live with "the pulsing door of compromise and success", because at any point he can stop writing jokes and just make money. I bring this up because, in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Creator/AdamSandler described a similar moment where he made the exact opposite decision.''

[[folder:Music]]

->''Say no to brains, it's a no-brainer\\
Lowest common denominator\\
It pays the bills to be this sterile\\
Fuck me now, [[FollowTheLeader rip me off later]]''
-->--'''Music/MindlessSelfIndulgence''', ''Bullshit''

->''All we hear is Radio ga ga\\
Radio goo goo\\
Radio ga ga\\
All we hear is Radio ga ga\\
Radio [[BlahBlahBlah blah blah]]''
-->--'''{{Music/Queen}}''', "Radio Gaga"

->''Like to tie up those programming planners\\
Make 'em watch all of that junk 'til their heads explode just like ''{{Film/Scanners}}''\\
Leech-covered grub-eatin' fools on ''Series/{{Survivor}}''\\
Look there's James Lipton discussing the ''oeuvre'' of Mr. Rob Schneider''
-->--'''Music/WeirdAlYankovic''', "Couch Potato"

[[/folder]]

->I would like to voice my strong concern about this show's spiraling decline in ratings. David, ever since you took us to the Caribbean, it's been Jamaica homeless people sucking soup, and a big wave outside that cost a hundred thousand dollars. That's depressing and it's expensive, two words I hate. You know the words I like? I like the word "peppy" and the word "cheap". Peppy and cheap.

->...vicious, lazy, profoundly ignorant, perpetually hungry organism craving the warm god-flesh of the anointed. Personally I like to imagine something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth, Laney, no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote. Or by voting in presidential elections.

->Our purpose is to amuse, simply to amuse. Nothing serious, nothing political.

->As some illustrious person once said, popularity is the hallmark of mediocrity.

->Hitchcock said a movie should play the audience like a piano. ''Film/DeathRace'' played me [[SuckinessIsPainful like a drum]]. It is an assault on all the senses, including common. Walking out, I had the impression I had just seen the video game and was still waiting for the movie.

->Hey, I've said a million times: {{Wrestling/TNA}} still being alive today really makes me feel better about my own future. Right? I mean, there's an audience for '''anything''', clearly. This could be the worst show of all time, and there would still be people that subscribe. That makes me feel good.\\\

And TNA has, uh... brought me some peace of mind.

->Listen, I've spent my whole life defending [[MediaWatchdog movies that people tell me are evil]], and they're not. I get told horror movies are bad for you and action movies are bad for you and erotic thrillers are bad for you -- no. ''Little Man'' is bad for the world.

->It is the present, and I find myself sitting in an office. At first, I think that [[OhWaitThisIsMyGroceryList somebody is making a shopping list]]. But then, I realize that I am in the production office of ''That's Life!'' The liver and kidneys referred to are this week's star organ transplant. And as for the vegetables... they are this week's audience.

->So the first thing we do when we set out to slop together a drab, tick-the-boxes, committee-designed, work-the-name-recognition-'til-its-organs-of-generation-dry-up-and-blow-away-like-dandelion-seeds reboot is to isolate everything that gave the original its unique appeal, edge, and soul, put on our big boots and stamp and stamp and stamp, until it can be posted through the letterbox of an ungrateful majority audience who'd be afraid of their own farts if they sounded one demitone higher than usual.

->Now when I think of writers, I think of people who have something original to say and the gift of verbal communication to pass on their unique points of view to the public (i.e. Creator/ErnestHemingway, Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs, [[Creator/DrSeuss Ted Geisel]]). Novelists, maybe some old time poets, journalists, people who have a burning desire inside to share their thoughts about subjects of which they have personal knowledge - like [[Creator/DrSeuss Ted Geisel]], have a great imagination and unique communicative skills. There is a another kind of writer though who has no particular point of view, no knowledge of the subjects he writes about, no imagination and no love for cartoons - and not the least amount of skill or talent for communicating anything fresh or interesting. These are "writers-for-hire" a kind of [[YesMan wimpy mercenary]] who will write anything for money on demand. This is what we had in the cartoon business in the 80s.

->Culture is a tool for managing consumers.
-->--'''[[http://metagearsolid.org/2011/07/video-games-in-the-master-plan/ Terry Wolfe]]'''

->The first question the alleged documentary filmmaker interviewer asks is 'what's your favorite bubble gum.' SHUT IT DOWN, BOB WOODWARD.

->Honestly, this should be enough to convince any number of Ivy League Universities to grant Music/{{Miley|Cyrus}} an honorary [=PhD=] for her work on this tour, but if they need something in writing, she could easily provide them with dissertations on the following:\\\
''Contemporary Amateur Hillbilly Stripping''\\
''Understanding Severe [[AttentionWhore Histrionic Personality Disorder]]''\\
''Lack of Awareness, Accountability in a Post-Feminist Age''\\
''Fucking on a Hot Dog''

->Um, hello, were they ever considered “rock”? It was my understanding that the National Registry of Music Classifications (if that’s even a thing that exists) created a new genre specifically for them called Melodic Douche Grunts or Truck Tunes.
-->--'''''[[http://dlisted.com/2015/03/07/nickelback-doesnt-sound-like-nickelback-anymore-and-their-fans-are-pissed/ DListed]]''''', "Music/{{Nickelback}} Doesn’t Sound Like Nickelback Anymore And Their Fans Are Pissed"

->This is the end point of civilization, where everything is worn down, run down, boiled down and burned out. Sound familiar yet? If not, maybe go re-listen to Music/FloRida or Music/TheBlackEyedPeas. Pop music is possibly the most entropic of our cultural signifiers, and Miley Cyrus' concerns about this are simply all over ''Bangerz'', and in particular '[[StepfordSmiler We Can't Stop]]'.
-->--'''John Marsfeder''', [[http://c4ss.org/content/23006 "Dancing in the Ruins of the Western World"]]

->That explains the one a**hole in my audience who was more than vocal about his dislike of the movie [[FanHater and camped outside the exit to tell people who liked it otherwise]]. I wanted to bitch him out in front of his friends, but there's no point. He will always be the Creator/MichaelBay wanking, Music/MichaelBolton loving jack off and there is nothing I can do to convince him this was a great movie.
-->--'''[[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Miles Antwiler]]''' [[http://moviemoses.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/the-fall-20062008-tarsem/ on]] ''Film/TheFall''

->Any negative response to ''The Rise of Arsenal'' had to do with the quality of the book itself as opposed to the nature of its content. I suppose this suggests that some of us (including me) are less concerned about [[ThinkOfTheChildren exposing youngsters to sex and violence]] than we are to having them read bad comics.
-->--'''David Wolkin''' on ''[[ComicBook/GreenArrow The Rise of Arsenal]]'', [[http://comicsalliance.com/worst-comic-books-2010/ "The 5 Worst Comics of 2010"]]

->The problem isn't that it's American, but that the specific type of American television it's emulating is mediocre, and it has no ambitions whatsoever towards surpassing that mediocrity. The TV Movie is trying to be [[SoOkayItsAverage bland and pointless]] American sci-fi, it succeeds admirably, and for that, at least, it is rightly hated.
-->-- '''[[http://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/clinging-to-the-skin-of-this-tiny-little-world-the-tv-movie/ Dr. El Sandifer]]''', "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie}} The TV Movie]]"

->I’m at a loss for words, I really am. This really is television for morons.

->'I'll keep you, you, you, oh, I'm out of roses. Looks like all that's left in this flower basket is [[GetOut fuck you and get the fuck out.]]' This antiquated system takes so long that during one ''Flavor of Love'' elimination, a girl had to relieve herself on the floor. It was like this epiphany hit her--when you lose all dignity, you can just shit where you stand! Or maybe her sphincter saw its one opportunity to express its opinion of the show and took it.

->This got made! And is going to series!

->Facing stiff competition from the ever-cunty ''Series/{{Two and a Half Men}}'' and ''Series/{{Jersey Shore}}'', the UK edition of ''Series/DealOrNoDeal'' fully deserves the opening award for being the most insufferable puddle of rhinoceros piss to ever contaminate television screens. Firstly, there's the concept: someone chooses a box to open from a selection of boxes……and that's it. Each box has randomly assigned amounts of money inside, of which the contestant loses the chance to win when opened. It's completely random. And viewers lap this shit up like it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. [[IncrediblyLameFun People watch other people opening boxes,]] glued to the fucking screen. Every. Fucking. Day. CUNTS!

->That's the biggest problem with games today; everything that doesn't fit the design document has to be removed. All the rough edges have to be sanded off, all the easter eggs have to be removed for budget restraints, all the fun, secret shit has to be shelved because there's not enough time to include both that and the mandatory amount of cutscenes. In today's climate, it's no longer about adding content that enhances the player experience. It is instead about giving the player the bare minimum amount needed to keep them playing, and then force them onto the next game to buy and then forget about. It's just like television - they don't care about the impact the work has on you, they just want you to keep watching for the next one.
-->--'''Blog/{{Froghand}}''', from [[https://froghand.neocities.org/gamingdispassion.html Dispassion in the Gaming Scene]].

->I think it's telling about a company when just a decade ago it was considered one of the coolest sites on the Web, a source of unabashed creativity and community, where memes lived and died like they were nothing - only for the site to offer itself for vivisection and spend the last three years spasming at every opportunity Google takes to cut into it. Nowhere is this more reflective than the most popular videos on Website/YouTube, which I have previously described as the "TMZ" as websites, but is now better described as the "TLC" of the Web: a series of lowest-common-demoninator advertisements, sponsored content, and pop culture pandering that exists only to extract advertising revenue from the most disinterested and barely-alive populace that exists today.

->Vince Russo is a deer caught in the headlines as long as there's a wrestling match going. As long as he can make it [[SerialNumbersFiledOff a phony B-movie script]], or [[GimmickMatches an outhouse in the ring]], or [[WorkedShoot woman having miscarriages]]--so get the ''wrestling matches'' outta there, 'cause nobody wants to see that shit anyway.

->And I'm not going to lie, one of main things that did cement it as number one status here is the influence of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. How many shows on this list that I mentioned alone were clearly inspired by ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''? [[AllAdultAnimationIsSouthPark Every single cartoon]] [[RatedMForMoney inspired by]] ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' in any way whatsoever is '''worthless''', it is pointless, it is the degradation of animation.
-->-- '''WebVideo/TheMysteriousMrEnter''' on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' and its influence on other adult animated shows.

->[[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible Am I not smart enough for this?]] Is this some kind of experimental avante-garde thing that's just going way over my head? Because unless someone makes an argument, I'm just going to assume that I'm not ''dumb'' enough for this; that I've just got too much going on in my head; that ''[[BrainBleach I can't absorb something this awful.]]''

'''Mike''': [[ShapedLikeItself Paul Blart.]]\\
'''Jay''': "Art" is in the name, though, which is unfortunate. Paul Bl[=ART=].\\

->Y'see, the average human IQ is 100, so if you want your film to make money, you've gotta aim for '[[SoOkayItsAverage average]].' Just look at the top box office films of all time, and then consider suicide. It's the reason a high-quality film like ''{{Film/Hugo}}'' earned nearly ten times less than a movie like ''{{WesternAnimation/Shrek 2}}.''

->Mike Bongiorno is an ideal that nobody has to strive for, because everyone is already at its level. No religion has ever been so indulgent to its faithful. In him the tension of what is and what should be is annulled. He says to his worshipers, "You are God, Stay exactly as you are."

->In the old dramas it was [[LovedINotHonorMore love that had to be sacrificed to painful duty]]. In the modern instance the sacrifice is at the shrine of what William James called 'the Bitch Goddess, Success.' Love is to be abandoned for the stern pursuit of newspaper notoriety and dollars.
-->-- '''Aldous Huxley''' "Silence is Golden"

->The more your musical experience, the easier it is to define for yourself what you like and what you don't like. American radio listeners, raised on a diet of _____ fill in the blank), have experienced a musical universe so small they cannot begin to know what they like.

-->-- '''[[http://www.philipsandifer.com/2012/12/clinging-to-skin-of-this-tiny-little.html Dr. El Sandifer]]''', "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie}} The TV Movie]]"

->And I'm not going to lie, one of main things that did cement it as number one status here is the influence of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. How many shows on this list that I mentioned alone were clearly inspired by ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''? [[AllAdultAnimationIsSouthPark Every single cartoon]] [[RatedMForMoney inspired by]] ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' in any way whatsoever is '''worthless'''. Is it pointless. It is the degradation of animation.

->[[AllAdultAnimationIsSouthPark Every single cartoon]] [[RatedMForMoney inspired by]] ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' in any way whatsoever is '''worthless'''. Is it pointless. It is the degradation of animation.

->[[AllAdultAnimationIsSouthParl Every single cartoon]] [[RatedMForMoney inspired by]] ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' in any way whatsoever is '''worthless'''. Is it pointless. It is the degradation of animation.

Look there's James Lipton discussing the ''oeuvre'' of [[MistakenForProfound Mr. Rob Schneider]]''

-->-'''[[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Bryan Alvarez]]''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6lOLg76_E0#t=2600s on]] ''Lickdown'' 2014

And TNA has, uh... [[BackhandedCompliment brought me some peace of mind.]]
-->--'''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6lOLg76_E0#t=2600s Bryan Alvarez]]'''

->I think it's telling about a company when just a decade ago it was considered one of the coolest sites on the Web, a source of unabashed creativity and community, where memes lived and died like they were nothing - only for the site to offer itself for vivisection and spend the last three years spasming at every opportunity Google takes to cut into it. Nowhere is this more reflective than the most popular videos on YouTube, which I have previously described as the "TMZ" as websites, but is now better described as the "TLC" of the Web: a series of lowest-common-demoninator advertisements, sponsored content, and pop culture pandering that exists only to extract advertising revenue from the most disinterested and barely-alive populace that exists today.

-->-- '''[[http://www.philipsandifer.com/2012/12/clinging-to-skin-of-this-tiny-little.html Dr. Phil Sandifer]]''', "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie}} The TV Movie]]"

->It is the present, and I find myself sitting in an office. At first, I think that [[OhWaitThisIsMyGroceryList somebody is making a shopping list]]. But then, I realize that I am in the production office of ''That's Life!'' The liver and kidneys referred to are this week's star organ transplant. And as for the vegetables... they are this week's audience.
-->-- '''Creator/VictorLewisSmith'''

-->-- '''Victor Lewis-Smith'''