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TV: Game-Change, Once, and the Good Wife
Mar. 11th, 2012 10:55 pmTrying to cross-post from DW doesn't always work well for me. Because I forget I did it when I go back to edit, and end up only editing lj. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit. Also one whose life is out of balance. Trying to fix that, failing miserably.
But won't bore you with the details, at least not tonight at any rate.
TV...
1. Game Change - disappointing. Didn't reveal anything new. The acting performances were good all around. Particularly, Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Peter McNichol and Ed Harris. Moore nailed Sarah Palin and managed to make her character sympathetic and relatable as opposed to either a satiric sketch or a parody. And there were a few good lines...but I was somewhat bored during it. It's skippable. The book is actually better - since it goes in depth on all the candidates, and apparently Hilary's campaign and what went wrong there is more interesting. The reason the book is called Game Change - is it is about how the internet and information age has changed political campaigns. Information goes viral in minutes. This flick touched on that theme, but didn't do enough to cover it and relied far too heavily on old news casts to make its points.
2. Once Upon a Time - sigh, this show makes me miss Buffy and Lost. The fairy tale world remains more interesting and better paced than the real one. Also, I can't stand Regina. Every time she appears, I wish someone would off her. She's like nails on a chalkboard. I actually thought...while watching the Good Wife - could we have the villain who murdered his wife and got away with it jump over to Once and kill Regina? Or maybe the cast of Walking Dead? Either works for me.
Seriously, the Storybrook plot thread moves at a snail's pace. Not helped by the fact that the lead characters in Storybrook are...annoying. So I'm frustrated. OTOH, I like their alter-egos in the "fairy tale world" - that world is actually interesting with some rather cool twists and turns. Also less predictable. Plus it's better paced.
I think the problem is that the writers find the fairy tale world more interesting too and don't quite know what to do in Storybrook. They have to do all these back-stories for all the inhabitants of Storybrook - so they can't very well do anything to Regina. Because if anything happens to Regina, Storybrook will dissolved and we won't have two realities to play with. Regina's curse and Regina's continued maintenance of that curse is why the fairy tale characters reside in Storybrook. Some miserable, some actually happier than they were in fairy tale world.
It's that Catch-22 that annoys me with tv shows. Angel the series had a similar issue - Angel couldn't become uncursed or get the shanshu, because the moment he did, there wouldn't be a series. Lost? They "all" couldn't get off the island, because then there'd be no story. So, you had people constantly trying to get off and failing, or getting off only to try to get back on. Which got to be a bit ridiculous after a while - but hey better paced than Once. BattleStar Galatica? Same dilemma - they can't find earth, because the show is about their journey to Earth. Finding Earth can only happen in the final episode. I call these journey shows or carrot shows. Where the protagonist is either seriously clueless (Emma) or just perpetually frustrated (Angel/Jack).
I prefer shows like Buffy and the Vampire Diaries...where there are no carrots, just insane love triangles and tragically impaired romantic relationships that can't ever quite go anywhere - because there would be no conflict and no story according to the idiotic writers who can't figure out how maintain a somewhat sane long-term relationship to save their lives.
Sorry, enough whining about television tropes that frustrate me.
What I liked?
( spoilers )
3. The Good Wife - seriously the best written show I've seen all week. The writing and performances continue to blow me away, after I see everything else. It was even better written than Justified this week. The threading of the stories, beautiful, the theme of power and politics sustained throughout. ( spoilers )
But won't bore you with the details, at least not tonight at any rate.
TV...
1. Game Change - disappointing. Didn't reveal anything new. The acting performances were good all around. Particularly, Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Peter McNichol and Ed Harris. Moore nailed Sarah Palin and managed to make her character sympathetic and relatable as opposed to either a satiric sketch or a parody. And there were a few good lines...but I was somewhat bored during it. It's skippable. The book is actually better - since it goes in depth on all the candidates, and apparently Hilary's campaign and what went wrong there is more interesting. The reason the book is called Game Change - is it is about how the internet and information age has changed political campaigns. Information goes viral in minutes. This flick touched on that theme, but didn't do enough to cover it and relied far too heavily on old news casts to make its points.
2. Once Upon a Time - sigh, this show makes me miss Buffy and Lost. The fairy tale world remains more interesting and better paced than the real one. Also, I can't stand Regina. Every time she appears, I wish someone would off her. She's like nails on a chalkboard. I actually thought...while watching the Good Wife - could we have the villain who murdered his wife and got away with it jump over to Once and kill Regina? Or maybe the cast of Walking Dead? Either works for me.
Seriously, the Storybrook plot thread moves at a snail's pace. Not helped by the fact that the lead characters in Storybrook are...annoying. So I'm frustrated. OTOH, I like their alter-egos in the "fairy tale world" - that world is actually interesting with some rather cool twists and turns. Also less predictable. Plus it's better paced.
I think the problem is that the writers find the fairy tale world more interesting too and don't quite know what to do in Storybrook. They have to do all these back-stories for all the inhabitants of Storybrook - so they can't very well do anything to Regina. Because if anything happens to Regina, Storybrook will dissolved and we won't have two realities to play with. Regina's curse and Regina's continued maintenance of that curse is why the fairy tale characters reside in Storybrook. Some miserable, some actually happier than they were in fairy tale world.
It's that Catch-22 that annoys me with tv shows. Angel the series had a similar issue - Angel couldn't become uncursed or get the shanshu, because the moment he did, there wouldn't be a series. Lost? They "all" couldn't get off the island, because then there'd be no story. So, you had people constantly trying to get off and failing, or getting off only to try to get back on. Which got to be a bit ridiculous after a while - but hey better paced than Once. BattleStar Galatica? Same dilemma - they can't find earth, because the show is about their journey to Earth. Finding Earth can only happen in the final episode. I call these journey shows or carrot shows. Where the protagonist is either seriously clueless (Emma) or just perpetually frustrated (Angel/Jack).
I prefer shows like Buffy and the Vampire Diaries...where there are no carrots, just insane love triangles and tragically impaired romantic relationships that can't ever quite go anywhere - because there would be no conflict and no story according to the idiotic writers who can't figure out how maintain a somewhat sane long-term relationship to save their lives.
Sorry, enough whining about television tropes that frustrate me.
What I liked?
( spoilers )
3. The Good Wife - seriously the best written show I've seen all week. The writing and performances continue to blow me away, after I see everything else. It was even better written than Justified this week. The threading of the stories, beautiful, the theme of power and politics sustained throughout. ( spoilers )