Television...redux
Feb. 7th, 2021 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatI found it easier to work and to write when I didn't have the internet to distract me.
1. Saw WandaVision, which has Nine Episodes - to date only five have aired.
I'm not sure it works as well if you are unfamiliar with the films. Although, it may provide more suspense?
I am familiar with the films - and have seen the critical ones more than once - possibly because I adored Robert Downy Jr's take on Tony Stark, Chris Evans on Captain America, Jeremy Renner's on Hawkeye, Natasha Richardson's Black Widow, Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth's Hulk and Thor. I liked how they did it. (I don't always - I was brutally disappointed in the Batman films...with few exceptions. And in the Superman (with few exceptions) and the Wonder Woman (with few exceptions), and in the Fantastic Four (no exceptions) and Spiderman (few exceptions), and most of the X-men films (the only one I loved was Days of Future Past and Logan, everything else...ugh.)
I'm picky when it comes to this stuff - because I have a weakness for it.
I love stories about people with superpowers. Not everyone does. Some people like stories about pirates..I'm kind of ambivalent to be honest, others love stories about highlanders (also ambivalent), others love war movies (appeal is completely lost on me), others about people who work in diners...
Anyhow - this one is admittedly unique. It's kind of a show within a show. Wanda Maximov aka Scarlett Witch can manipulate the fabric of reality with a hex. She can literally rewrite reality if she so desires. Here she's rewritten the reality of the small town of Westville - turning everyone in town into one of her sitcom creations. They all play roles in her situation comedy. But she seems to be oblivious to the fact that they are doing so, or is she? The situation comedy format starts in the 1950s, jumps to the 60s then to the 70s then to the 80s, complete with front and end credits, sets, wardrobe, etc. She literally is rewriting reality to look like a sitcom, and each time she feels threatened or challenged, she changes the time period, the sets, everything.
I've never seen anything quite like it - but it takes the whole concept of the meta-narrative to the next level. I mean the 70s set looked like the Brady Bunch's House, and the 1980s set reminded me of my childhood home. And the 1950s set looked like Bewitched.
The cast is quite good. Olson and Lucas hold it together well, and Olson makes Wanda likable and kind of amusing at the same time.
2. Speaking of meta narratives...Legacies mini-musical performance of "The Vampire Diaries" was well done. Apparently the executive producer sent clips from it to the actors from the Vamp Diaries - and they posted small references to it on Twitter. Making the fans think they'd get a S9 of TVD.
(Uhm no. Kind of like fans thinking they'll get another season of Buffy, Firefly, or Angel. It's not happening. It's been too much time - if they were going to do that - they'd have done it within two years of the show ending. Also, the actors don't want to reprise the roles. Nor does anyone else. It's kind of like someone asking a writer to write more of a story - when they just can't. I get it - I've had three people who read my book Doing Time on Planet Earth request a sequel. And I thought, no. If I wanted to write a series - I'd have gotten it traditionally published and changed it to fit the silly traditional publishers cookie-cutter criteria. If you saw some of the suggestions I've gotten from traditional publishers for stories I sent their way? "Oh you write amazing, but you could you change your story to a cozy mystery like so and so's or better yet, instead of the heroine trying to kill herself out of frustration - have her find a body - because that's more sellable." Or..."take out that whole bit where they discuss Looney Tunes characters...its boring, instead just describe their surroundings - that's so much better.". Eh, I think I'll just go and publish it myself on Amazon, bye now. You might make more money as a traditionally published writer - but honestly, there's no guarantees. I know traditionally published writers who self-published a work and made far more off of it. I'm reading one of those at the moment. You have more freedom to play if you go outside the publishing industry. The publishing industry is kind of...for want of another word? Staid.]
Anyhow...the musical was entertaining and kind of made me want to rewatch Vamp Diaries and see more than the first five episodes of the Originals. I don't really want to see a reprise of the folks from Vamp Diaries. But some guest appearances from The Originals would have been nice. Shame Klaus is dead.
The big difference between Vamp Diaries and Legacies - which shows how things have changed is ...Legacies is far more diverse in its casting choices. And is getting better at featuring the diverse cast as it moves forward. Depicting how much things have truly changed. Vamp Diaries lasted longer than Buffy, in the much the same way that Supernatural did - because they weren't quite as expensive to make, didn't wear out the cast, and weren't as well written. They just wanted to be supernatural soap operas or fun shows. The writers weren't trying to write Shakespeare. Whedon was a bit of a perfectionist and worked his people half to death. Most shows only shoot five days a week, Whedon shot seven days a week and snuck the crew and cast in for overtime, without really paying for it. He also did multiple takes until he got it right. Every line. Every thing had to be perfect. And he took huge risks. Often did not go with what the audience wanted, and went for the pain. And, he didn't really groom anyone to take over - nor did he trust them to do it. Which was a problem - as result, he burned out much like the guy who wrote Twilight Zone burned out. By S5, Whedon was bored of Buffy and ready to play with Firefly, and Marti/Fury weren't really groomed to take over, nor did her truly let them. By S3, Gellar was burned out on Buffy. And locked in. And unlike Vamp Dairies, Buffy wasn't set up in such a way for Gellar to leave. She was the star - they couldn't continue without her. Angel had the same problem - David was burned out by S5 on Angel. ]
But enough of that. I could be wrong on all of the above. Just speculating. I think there were other factors at play - both Buffy and Angel were on networks that were in the midst of upheaval at the time. WB/UPN merged into the CW. And Paramount later rebooted UPN as the Paramount Network. I think if Buffy had started on the CW, and not been under Fox's umbrella, it may have continued longer than it did, and gone in a different direction. But it's impossible to know.
I enjoyed Legacies musical episode...but I'll forget it tomorrow. I don't really find it more than just enjoyable. Which to be honest is all I want right now. Something that is just fun and I don't have to focus too much on.
At any rate - I feel an odd desire to binge-watch Vamp Diaries. LOL!
1. Saw WandaVision, which has Nine Episodes - to date only five have aired.
I'm not sure it works as well if you are unfamiliar with the films. Although, it may provide more suspense?
I am familiar with the films - and have seen the critical ones more than once - possibly because I adored Robert Downy Jr's take on Tony Stark, Chris Evans on Captain America, Jeremy Renner's on Hawkeye, Natasha Richardson's Black Widow, Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth's Hulk and Thor. I liked how they did it. (I don't always - I was brutally disappointed in the Batman films...with few exceptions. And in the Superman (with few exceptions) and the Wonder Woman (with few exceptions), and in the Fantastic Four (no exceptions) and Spiderman (few exceptions), and most of the X-men films (the only one I loved was Days of Future Past and Logan, everything else...ugh.)
I'm picky when it comes to this stuff - because I have a weakness for it.
I love stories about people with superpowers. Not everyone does. Some people like stories about pirates..I'm kind of ambivalent to be honest, others love stories about highlanders (also ambivalent), others love war movies (appeal is completely lost on me), others about people who work in diners...
Anyhow - this one is admittedly unique. It's kind of a show within a show. Wanda Maximov aka Scarlett Witch can manipulate the fabric of reality with a hex. She can literally rewrite reality if she so desires. Here she's rewritten the reality of the small town of Westville - turning everyone in town into one of her sitcom creations. They all play roles in her situation comedy. But she seems to be oblivious to the fact that they are doing so, or is she? The situation comedy format starts in the 1950s, jumps to the 60s then to the 70s then to the 80s, complete with front and end credits, sets, wardrobe, etc. She literally is rewriting reality to look like a sitcom, and each time she feels threatened or challenged, she changes the time period, the sets, everything.
I've never seen anything quite like it - but it takes the whole concept of the meta-narrative to the next level. I mean the 70s set looked like the Brady Bunch's House, and the 1980s set reminded me of my childhood home. And the 1950s set looked like Bewitched.
The cast is quite good. Olson and Lucas hold it together well, and Olson makes Wanda likable and kind of amusing at the same time.
2. Speaking of meta narratives...Legacies mini-musical performance of "The Vampire Diaries" was well done. Apparently the executive producer sent clips from it to the actors from the Vamp Diaries - and they posted small references to it on Twitter. Making the fans think they'd get a S9 of TVD.
(Uhm no. Kind of like fans thinking they'll get another season of Buffy, Firefly, or Angel. It's not happening. It's been too much time - if they were going to do that - they'd have done it within two years of the show ending. Also, the actors don't want to reprise the roles. Nor does anyone else. It's kind of like someone asking a writer to write more of a story - when they just can't. I get it - I've had three people who read my book Doing Time on Planet Earth request a sequel. And I thought, no. If I wanted to write a series - I'd have gotten it traditionally published and changed it to fit the silly traditional publishers cookie-cutter criteria. If you saw some of the suggestions I've gotten from traditional publishers for stories I sent their way? "Oh you write amazing, but you could you change your story to a cozy mystery like so and so's or better yet, instead of the heroine trying to kill herself out of frustration - have her find a body - because that's more sellable." Or..."take out that whole bit where they discuss Looney Tunes characters...its boring, instead just describe their surroundings - that's so much better.". Eh, I think I'll just go and publish it myself on Amazon, bye now. You might make more money as a traditionally published writer - but honestly, there's no guarantees. I know traditionally published writers who self-published a work and made far more off of it. I'm reading one of those at the moment. You have more freedom to play if you go outside the publishing industry. The publishing industry is kind of...for want of another word? Staid.]
Anyhow...the musical was entertaining and kind of made me want to rewatch Vamp Diaries and see more than the first five episodes of the Originals. I don't really want to see a reprise of the folks from Vamp Diaries. But some guest appearances from The Originals would have been nice. Shame Klaus is dead.
The big difference between Vamp Diaries and Legacies - which shows how things have changed is ...Legacies is far more diverse in its casting choices. And is getting better at featuring the diverse cast as it moves forward. Depicting how much things have truly changed. Vamp Diaries lasted longer than Buffy, in the much the same way that Supernatural did - because they weren't quite as expensive to make, didn't wear out the cast, and weren't as well written. They just wanted to be supernatural soap operas or fun shows. The writers weren't trying to write Shakespeare. Whedon was a bit of a perfectionist and worked his people half to death. Most shows only shoot five days a week, Whedon shot seven days a week and snuck the crew and cast in for overtime, without really paying for it. He also did multiple takes until he got it right. Every line. Every thing had to be perfect. And he took huge risks. Often did not go with what the audience wanted, and went for the pain. And, he didn't really groom anyone to take over - nor did he trust them to do it. Which was a problem - as result, he burned out much like the guy who wrote Twilight Zone burned out. By S5, Whedon was bored of Buffy and ready to play with Firefly, and Marti/Fury weren't really groomed to take over, nor did her truly let them. By S3, Gellar was burned out on Buffy. And locked in. And unlike Vamp Dairies, Buffy wasn't set up in such a way for Gellar to leave. She was the star - they couldn't continue without her. Angel had the same problem - David was burned out by S5 on Angel. ]
But enough of that. I could be wrong on all of the above. Just speculating. I think there were other factors at play - both Buffy and Angel were on networks that were in the midst of upheaval at the time. WB/UPN merged into the CW. And Paramount later rebooted UPN as the Paramount Network. I think if Buffy had started on the CW, and not been under Fox's umbrella, it may have continued longer than it did, and gone in a different direction. But it's impossible to know.
I enjoyed Legacies musical episode...but I'll forget it tomorrow. I don't really find it more than just enjoyable. Which to be honest is all I want right now. Something that is just fun and I don't have to focus too much on.
At any rate - I feel an odd desire to binge-watch Vamp Diaries. LOL!