Dear TV Shows: Wait Until WHEN?! Edition
Friday, December 4th, 2009 10:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
retsukoDear "V" and "Flashforward":
Wait... you're not back on the air until March of next year?
OK. This is like having a lukewarm romance with a semi-good-looking person for a short amount of time. Everything's going along well, but not stellar (there are weird problems, like them ignoring your questions about their shadowy pasts, and picking their teeth with the mail), and all of a sudden, BAM~!, they're announcing that they're leaving and won't return for several months hence**. And as you watch the credits roll, you wonder if you're even going to remember them a few months down the line. There are promises, yes, of them showing up with great bouquets of action, excitement, and answers about those shadowy pasts. But the preceding relationship pattern is just meh, so-so enough that you're only a little sad they're gone. If they could just shape up a little bit--kill off some annoying characters, make the meta-plot move a little less like molasses, I would be champing at the bit for their return. But now I wonder if I'll even care about them when March comes around, or if it'll be awkward, like seeing an ex-significant other at a bar when you're with a much more attractive partner and the previous relationship was left horribly unresolved.
Specifically, Flashforward: Uhm... where to start? I see the promise of an awesome program within the bones of a boring one. I see compelling characters and great plot twists, but not as the show is now. Basically, the problems of Mark and Olivia, while they're played by two actors I normally enjoy and respect, don't amount to a hill of beans; Demetri and his fiancee (whose name has now escaped me) are far more compelling as a couple, especially since John Cho and Gabrielle Union have real chemistry. They should be the main characters of the show, especially with the revelation about Dmetri's potential murder at Mark's hands. (And was it just me, or in this last episode, did Mr. Fiennes switch his acting technique from "boring" to "completely psycho"? Watching him be the bad cop and mutter things like "Yahtzee!" was just weird after his flat performance until now.) Meanwhile, we have Charlie from "Lost" being all crazy-eccentric-genius with the FBI, which is sort of interesting, but nowhere near as entertaining as it should have been. Finally, there are some side plots with Bryce and the babysitter girl (it's a testament to how dull parts of this show are that I can't remember some characters' names to save my life), Mr. Simcoe and revelations about what caused the blackout (the press conference at the beginning of the episode was one of the few times since the plot that's seemed genuinely tense), and the side plot in Hong Kong with always awesome Shohreh Aghdashloo, which lead to some mild entertainment, but again, a false sense of urgency. There was also some ironic sampling of "A Christmas Carol" and the ghosts of Xmases past, present, and future. But, generally speaking, the characters are right back where they started: clueless as to the significance of the blackout, worried about problems of varying concern to this viewer, and generally not sure where they'll end up, despite having seen a possible future. I don't care about questions of fate vs. free will, I just want a good story, and so far, I'm only getting the ghost of one, populated by characters I only marginally care about.
And also, V: I didn't watch the original program this is based on, and that's probably a good thing, given how bad this could be with bad makeup and 80s-style clothing. I do appreciate that we haven't seen the V's in their true alien form yet, that the writers are holding out on the big reveal. But, otherwise, I'm not entirely sold on the show and its insistence on lingering on dull characters with boring subplots, like whiny teenager Tyler and his forbidden liaison with the V liaison, or (most pointlessly) Tyler's therapist who is about to have a V-human hybrid ALIEN BABEH, unbeknownst to her. More time should be spent with Anna, the V leader (who seems to be coiled up like a cobra at all times; her fake smiles are wonderfully reptilian) and the growing resistance movement. The rumored 5th column seems to be made of awesomely hardcore win, and I'd like to seem them get together more thoroughly with the ragtag group of individuals, providing Joel Gretsch's character doesn't bleed to death in the church, and Elizabeth Marshall can get herself summarily fired by the FBI. In summary, there's more promise here, but I want things to move along more quickly. There's time for character development later, people!
Both of these programs seem to suffer from the writing problems of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, where the writers were convinced that they could do deep character episodes fairly early on in the series' progression. What they didn't realize was that character development on an episodic TV show works best after a few seasons of plot have gone by, when the characters have the beginnings of a background that the viewers have "participated in". Stories of "way back when, before the TV show" make more sense when we're actually familiar with the characters and what they're capable of. (It's far more interesting to hear about Sisko's friendship with Dax, for example, when we've seen their relationship build in the present day, or discover Picard's missed relationship with Dr. Crusher when we've seen their rapport grow and change and wondered what, exactly, makes them so familiar with one another.) If the writers could just move the plots along in both of these shows, there would be plenty of time for the ensemble casts to stretch their acting chops later on, when the plot fat has been trimmed and the viewers actually care about the characters.
** To be fair, I knew about the V "one-third now, two-thirds later" approach early on, but I had completely forgotten about it and so was annoyed when I heard about it again all of a sudden this past Tuesday.
Wait... you're not back on the air until March of next year?
OK. This is like having a lukewarm romance with a semi-good-looking person for a short amount of time. Everything's going along well, but not stellar (there are weird problems, like them ignoring your questions about their shadowy pasts, and picking their teeth with the mail), and all of a sudden, BAM~!, they're announcing that they're leaving and won't return for several months hence**. And as you watch the credits roll, you wonder if you're even going to remember them a few months down the line. There are promises, yes, of them showing up with great bouquets of action, excitement, and answers about those shadowy pasts. But the preceding relationship pattern is just meh, so-so enough that you're only a little sad they're gone. If they could just shape up a little bit--kill off some annoying characters, make the meta-plot move a little less like molasses, I would be champing at the bit for their return. But now I wonder if I'll even care about them when March comes around, or if it'll be awkward, like seeing an ex-significant other at a bar when you're with a much more attractive partner and the previous relationship was left horribly unresolved.
Specifically, Flashforward: Uhm... where to start? I see the promise of an awesome program within the bones of a boring one. I see compelling characters and great plot twists, but not as the show is now. Basically, the problems of Mark and Olivia, while they're played by two actors I normally enjoy and respect, don't amount to a hill of beans; Demetri and his fiancee (whose name has now escaped me) are far more compelling as a couple, especially since John Cho and Gabrielle Union have real chemistry. They should be the main characters of the show, especially with the revelation about Dmetri's potential murder at Mark's hands. (And was it just me, or in this last episode, did Mr. Fiennes switch his acting technique from "boring" to "completely psycho"? Watching him be the bad cop and mutter things like "Yahtzee!" was just weird after his flat performance until now.) Meanwhile, we have Charlie from "Lost" being all crazy-eccentric-genius with the FBI, which is sort of interesting, but nowhere near as entertaining as it should have been. Finally, there are some side plots with Bryce and the babysitter girl (it's a testament to how dull parts of this show are that I can't remember some characters' names to save my life), Mr. Simcoe and revelations about what caused the blackout (the press conference at the beginning of the episode was one of the few times since the plot that's seemed genuinely tense), and the side plot in Hong Kong with always awesome Shohreh Aghdashloo, which lead to some mild entertainment, but again, a false sense of urgency. There was also some ironic sampling of "A Christmas Carol" and the ghosts of Xmases past, present, and future. But, generally speaking, the characters are right back where they started: clueless as to the significance of the blackout, worried about problems of varying concern to this viewer, and generally not sure where they'll end up, despite having seen a possible future. I don't care about questions of fate vs. free will, I just want a good story, and so far, I'm only getting the ghost of one, populated by characters I only marginally care about.
And also, V: I didn't watch the original program this is based on, and that's probably a good thing, given how bad this could be with bad makeup and 80s-style clothing. I do appreciate that we haven't seen the V's in their true alien form yet, that the writers are holding out on the big reveal. But, otherwise, I'm not entirely sold on the show and its insistence on lingering on dull characters with boring subplots, like whiny teenager Tyler and his forbidden liaison with the V liaison, or (most pointlessly) Tyler's therapist who is about to have a V-human hybrid ALIEN BABEH, unbeknownst to her. More time should be spent with Anna, the V leader (who seems to be coiled up like a cobra at all times; her fake smiles are wonderfully reptilian) and the growing resistance movement. The rumored 5th column seems to be made of awesomely hardcore win, and I'd like to seem them get together more thoroughly with the ragtag group of individuals, providing Joel Gretsch's character doesn't bleed to death in the church, and Elizabeth Marshall can get herself summarily fired by the FBI. In summary, there's more promise here, but I want things to move along more quickly. There's time for character development later, people!
Both of these programs seem to suffer from the writing problems of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, where the writers were convinced that they could do deep character episodes fairly early on in the series' progression. What they didn't realize was that character development on an episodic TV show works best after a few seasons of plot have gone by, when the characters have the beginnings of a background that the viewers have "participated in". Stories of "way back when, before the TV show" make more sense when we're actually familiar with the characters and what they're capable of. (It's far more interesting to hear about Sisko's friendship with Dax, for example, when we've seen their relationship build in the present day, or discover Picard's missed relationship with Dr. Crusher when we've seen their rapport grow and change and wondered what, exactly, makes them so familiar with one another.) If the writers could just move the plots along in both of these shows, there would be plenty of time for the ensemble casts to stretch their acting chops later on, when the plot fat has been trimmed and the viewers actually care about the characters.
** To be fair, I knew about the V "one-third now, two-thirds later" approach early on, but I had completely forgotten about it and so was annoyed when I heard about it again all of a sudden this past Tuesday.
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no subject
Date: 2009-12-04 06:56 pm (UTC)I need to pass this analogy on to someone in my life who is about to leave for either South America for one month, or India for up to two months.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-04 07:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-04 06:56 pm (UTC)I also hate when tv shows get totally murdered - Bones is going to hell in a handbasket. I'm going to have to read fanfic to get any sort of satisfying conclusion because this show is well on its way to cancellation. FOR REALZ. I'm going to start reading the books it's based on instead.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-04 07:03 pm (UTC)In the case of these two shows, I'm reluctant to pursue fanfic/fandom in general for them, because I think neither of them has enough going on yet to warrant fanfic or do anything more than spur conversation and discussion. I'm not sure I want to invest anything, timewise, either, in case the shows really do crash and burn when they come back.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-04 07:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-04 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-04 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-04 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-04 08:11 pm (UTC)V was a little harder to drop completely because Alan, Elizabeth and Morenna are just too good to not watch. I'm still going to watch it and see where it goes but I do wish THEY JUST SPICE THINGS UP faster.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-04 08:15 pm (UTC)