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Grok:
- Socrates - "The Twilight Zone"
- Cleopatra - "I Love Lucy"
- Leonardo da Vinci - "Cosmos"
- Joan of Arc - "M*A*S*H"
- Genghis Khan - "Vikings"
- William Shakespeare - "The West Wing"
- Queen Elizabeth I - "The Crown"
- Isaac Newton - "Breaking Bad"
- Mozart - "Glee"
- Abraham Lincoln - "The Andy Griffith Show"
ChatGPT:
- Socrates — The Good Place
- Cleopatra — Succession
- Leonardo da Vinci — Black Mirror
- Joan of Arc — Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Genghis Khan — Game of Thrones
- William Shakespeare — The Simpsons
- Marie Antoinette — RuPaul’s Drag Race
- Ludwig van Beethoven — Mozart in the Jungle
- Abraham Lincoln — The West Wing
- Charles Darwin — Cosmos
- Queen Victoria — Downton Abbey
- Karl Marx — The Wire
- Jane Austen — Fleabag
- Napoleon Bonaparte — House of Cards
- Emily Dickinson — Twin Peaks
- Vincent van Gogh — Breaking Bad
- Florence Nightingale — ER
- Nikola Tesla — Doctor Who
- Mahatma Gandhi — Ted Lasso
- Albert Einstein — Rick and Morty
Posts
76 comments:
Interesting Caligula didn't make the list. Dude was an entertainment freak and would've loved cable TV, especially Skin-A-Max.
Albert Einstein did get to watch television.
Chat's list is a lot better than Grok's.
F the West Wing. Nobody wants to watch that twaddle.
That was nero the rockstar
Shakespeare was more game of thrones
And, Chat's list reminds me of when, while living in Seattle, I saw Sleepless In Seattle in the theater, among what was obviously lots more Seattleites. At every accordianing of geography (such as when Tom Hanks leaves the Houseboats in a dinghy with his kid and they end up in Alki), the whole place erupted in groans and catcalls.
This is what I imagine would happen when Queen Victoria would watch Downtown Abbey.
Fleabag? Just no. So wrong.
Friedrich Nietzsche - "Seinfeld"
…proving Grok and Char GPT are leftie white girls
Helen Keller?
I pushed ChatGPT about Einstein and got this:
"... He’s known to have appeared on television at least once... However, he personally didn’t watch TV. He lived a fairly simple, almost ascetic life, rarely went to the cinema, and never mentioned owning a television set. Biographers like Walter Isaacson note that he found modern entertainment shallow and preferred music and conversation.... If your criterion is “never got to watch TV,” Einstein sits right on the cusp — technically possible, but extremely unlikely he ever sat down to enjoy a program."
Hat gtp is stoopid
Of course, I asked: "Okay, but then how did you come up with the idea that OF ALL SHOWS, he'd like "Rick and Morty"?!"
Answer: "“Rick and Morty” is a manic, self-aware riff on scientific genius, moral ambiguity, and cosmic absurdity — all themes that swirl around the popular image of Einstein.
The character of Rick Sanchez is explicitly modeled after Einstein’s archetype — white hair, lab coat, brilliance bordering on chaos — as if Einstein were rewritten by nihilistic cartoonists. So the joke pairing works symbolically: Einstein watching a demented parody of himself grappling with the consequences of boundless intellect."
Really christopher lloyd
…such a bias to modern sensibilities about classic television. They all would have been fascinated by Looney Tunes…
My follow-up: "Was Einstein really that into himself?"
I'd like to think Socrates would watch Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Joan of arc was not so self absorbed
Jamie said...Chat's list is a lot better than Grok's.
Grok's suggestions are just the most famous show in the genre of that historical figure. So unimaginative...
Walter O. Snelling - King of the Hill
Mozart and ‘Glee’? I think not. ‘Soul Train’ would have been his favorite. Of this there can be no debate…
Nikola Tesla would have watched “Doctor Who,” and by 11:00 that night he’d have built a working model of a Tardis.
And Socrates would have watched ‘Welcome Back, Kotter’.
I asked Chat. Totally different list.
Perhaps
A figure from history with a documented capacity for childlike wonder and a preference for wholesome, gentle pursuits would most likely enjoy watching The Howdy Doody Show. Albert Einstein is an excellent candidate, as his well-known sense of awe and curiosity align perfectly with the show's innocent and playful spirit
Makes you wonder how many historical figures were cut because the machine had to conclude they were of the type who wouldn't have a favorite TV show.
@Eric the Fruit Bat, Louis XIV definitely..."l'éTV c'est moi".
tim maguire said...
I'd like to think Socrates would watch Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
10/24/25, 8:25 AM
Read the comment, then had to go back and read it as "So-crates would watch...".
The show choices seem heavily weighted towards American fiction.
Series exploring the individual's struggle
Nietzsche would likely be drawn to shows centered on a morally ambiguous protagonist who follows their own will, not societal convention.
Breaking Bad: The transformation of Walter White from a meek high school teacher into the ruthless drug lord "Heisenberg" would fascinate Nietzsche. Walter's journey is a pure illustration of the "will to power," as he rejects his life as a "last man" and creates his own identity through ambition and force.
House, M.D.: The cynical, arrogant Dr. Gregory House, who disregards rules and social norms to pursue his own intellectual truth, perfectly embodies a modern Übermensch. House's philosophical musings and nihilistic core would appeal to Nietzsche's sensibilities.
The Sopranos: Tony Soprano's constant, psychologically fraught struggle with morality and meaning would be compelling for Nietzsche. The show's exploration of "slave morality" (the Christian guilt promoted by his therapist) versus "master morality" (the self-defined power structure of his gangster life) is a core Nietzschean theme.
Dystopian and sci-fi series
Nietzsche would find themes of technological decay and societal collapse—particularly the dehumanizing effects on the populace—especially compelling.
Black Mirror: The series' various explorations of how technology can highlight the human "void" and produce the "last man"—complacent and passive—would align directly with Nietzsche's critique of modern existence. Each episode serves as a parable on the loss of authentic will.
True Detective (Season 1): The philosophical nihilism of detective Rust Cohle and the show's dark, existential tone would resonate strongly. His fatalistic worldview is a form of passive nihilism that Nietzsche critiqued, but would also find a compelling subject for intellectual inquiry.
Joan of Arc would have watched Maude. "With the Lord to guide her, she was a sister who really cooked."
What he likely wouldn't watch
On the other hand, Nietzsche would probably disdain:
Most reality television: He would see it as pandering to the lowest common denominator, reinforcing "herd mentality" and the values of the "last man" who seeks only comfort and cheap amusement.
Sentimental and moralistic dramas: Stories that rely on conventional moral frameworks and tearjerking moments would likely be dismissed by Nietzsche as promoting the life-denying values of "slave morality."
Sitcoms and simple comedies: While he saw the value in laughter, he would probably find the triviality of most sitcom plots uninteresting. He wrote that "laughter is only for gods," implying that everyday humor was often small and pathetic.
Adolph Hitler - "Hogan's Heroes"
Call it a hunch, but Henry VIII would've loved The Real Housewives of Orange County.
Howdy Doody was about seething hatred between Buffalo Bob and Clarabell, and banging Princess Summer Fall Winter Spring.
Say Kids What Time Is It? very amusing book by an insider kid if you watched the 50s show.
Neither chatbot's choices are especially insightful. I suppose Grok was influenced by Isaac Newton's dabblings in alchemy.
Either the bots need more prompting about historical figures, or about American television.
Any such list that doesn't include Alexander of Macedon watching "Doogie Howser, M.D." can be ignored.
Beasts @8:34, last night (as I was contemplating what to do while I waiting for the 1am Tylenol to hit) I thought about Welcome Back, Kotter for the first time in probably 20 years. Is there a stirring in the zeitgeist?
Socrates and The Good Place is a great match. That show had a lot of philosophical abd theological research by its writers hidden underneath the silliness. Sadly it couldnt end strong but that's the fate for many. Probably should be rebooted
I'm surprised, but maybe shouldn't be, by both AIs' failure to point out that some writers explicitly used the ideas of some of these historical figures in their work. As Heinlein said and I will paraphrase, the easiest way to write is to take a great story, file off the serial numbers, and sell it as your own. (My first novel, a writing group project that our leader/founder harangued me into, was very loosely based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, sort of on the same principle as how LM Alcott wrote the second part of Little Women to take the piss out of her publisher.)
’Is there a stirring in the zeitgeist?’
There must be. First time I’ve thought about it for at least that long!
I threw out the TV in 1971, so as a figure in history I'd go with none. Maybe Get Smart which was okay as family joint watching.
This comports with my observation that ChatGPT is significantly better with pop culture questions than Grok.
RuPaul’s Drag Race is for Elagabalus. Marie Antoinette is Ace Of Cakes.
I think I've seen 3 of those 30 shows.
Yah I thought Mozart would dig Soul Train…and I’d like to think they’d all get together to watch party Tattoo Fixers on All 4…
I think about Welcome Back Kotter a bunch. There was some tight writing for 70s crap TV…and man was it event TV, long before we recognized event TV
I mean, I hate to be that guy, and I wish I weren't, but no mention of the guy who's birth is the basis for the Calendar Dating for 90% of the Earth? I nominate J.C. and "The Good Place" as his ironic favorite show.
https://jupplandia.substack.com/p/the-erasure-of-white-people-by-large?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true
Andrew Jackson: F Troop.
Karl Marx: Squid Game
@baghdadbob, Lol. Leonidas: The A-Team
Grok & GPT are wrong. Da Vinci would've loved MacGyver.
’Karl Marx: Squid Game’
Winner!
I have seen only eight or nine of the listed shows, and some of those I stopped watching after one episode.
My first realization that I was profoundly out of touch with popular tastes in television was teaching a history class in 1988: somebody made a comment about something I had said, and I had to ask for clarification--it was a catchphrase of some kind from "Roseanne" and I didn't have the first clue.
Got to go with ChatGPT on "Cosmos" being a better fit with Darwin than DaVinci. I have no idea how Newton fits with "Breaking Bad". However, ChatGPT doesn't seem as fun with choices like Lincoln and "West Wing" or Nightingale and "ER", but then Grok did Queen Elizabeth I and "The Crown". I prefer Baghdadbob over the AI's.
The definitive source is "Was Nietzsche wohl im Fernsehen gesehen hätte?", Heidelberg, 1985.
Chris-2-4: I think Jesus would like Seinfeld. Jewish-flavored, shows the foibles of JC's favorite creatures (us), but nothing really bad happens. CC, JSM
JC- New Yankee Workshop and whatever Chip and Joanna have going on
Norm and his joiner biscuits- why dint I think of that?
What would Jesus watch?
The chatbots assume that these historical figures would want to watch TV shows that remind them of their own lives and issues (when so much of TV-watching is intended to help people ESCAPE from their lives and issues). Besides, there actually have been shows about all of these extremely well-known people -- if they were really so self-interested, they could find content with their own names in the titles.
"narciso said...
Shakespeare was more game of thrones"
Absolutely. And he'd be suing the shit out of the producers of Sons of Anarchy.
Game of Thrones was Shakespeare without the great poetry. Not to knock it, but that's something like Mozart without the great music......
Kamala Harris: Mr. Ed.
I think most of those people would pick up a good book or, maybe, watch a Trump news conference for entertainment. GOT and The Good Place are the only recent series I really got hooked on. Newton would probably use his superior intellect to watch and handicap NBA games and, as with the South Sea Bubble, end up losing all his money.
Lem Vibe Bandit said, "What would Jesus watch?"
Three's Company.
Joan of Arc's favorite show would be The American Barbecue Showdown, surely.
“The character of Rick Sanchez is explicitly modeled after Einstein’s archetype — white hair, lab coat, brilliance bordering on chaos —”
Einstein was a theorist; he never wore a lab coat. And his favorite show would have been “Beavis and Butt-Head”.
Shakespeare would enjoy The Wire
I had a friend who was fond of pointing out that nearly every work of fiction is a variant of Homer, the Bible, and Shakespeare.
"I had a friend who was fond of pointing out that nearly every work of fiction is a variant of Homer, the Bible, and Shakespeare."
Or,as in the case of Spongebob Squarepants, all three.
Wrong Again, ChatGPT! It is well known, if you are a fan and student of OTR, Early American Television, and/or Stan Freberg, that Albert Einstein not only owned a television, but that his favorite program was 'Time For Beany', and that he would conclude afternoon meetings by saying, "Excuse me, but it's Time For Beany".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_for_Beany
I'm sure Karl Marx would have watched The Wire.
He made the world of The Wire.
But Jane Austen and Fleabag? Why? Because (spoiler alert) she obviously would be into one-night-stand anal sex, as that's what females straining to maintain dignity in the face of "convention" are really like?
I didn't know ChatGPT is an incel.
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